WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday other NATO states must fill gaps in the alliance's Afghan mission, as the top U.S. military officer said America's main focus had to be on Iraq.
By Andrew Gray and David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday other NATO states must fill gaps in the alliance's Afghan mission, as the top U.S. military officer said America's main focus had to be on Iraq.
Gates said he would press for more resources, particularly to train Afghan security forces, at a meeting in Scotland this week with NATO defense ministers who have troops in Afghanistan's violent South.
"I am not ready to let NATO off the hook in Afghanistan at this point," Gates told a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
!ADVERTISEMENT!U.S. officials have consistently urged other states in the 26-nation alliance to provide more troops as well as military and police trainers as NATO tries to fight Taliban militants and establish stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.
In a frank admission, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a U.S. military stretched by the war in Iraq could only do so much in Afghanistan.
"In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq, we do what we must," said Mullen, testifying with Gates.
"The war in Afghanistan is, by design and necessity, an economy-of-force operation. There's no getting around that," he said. "Our main focus, militarily, in the region and in the world right now is rightly and firmly in Iraq."
The United States has around 160,000 troops in Iraq and some 26,000 in Afghanistan -- about half of them part of NATO's 40,000-strong security assistance force while the others perform missions ranging from training to counter-terrorism.
RISE IN VIOLENCE
Violence in Afghanistan in the past two years has been the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces ousted the hardline Islamist Taliban from power after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
More than 10,000 people, including over 300 foreign troops, have been killed in Afghanistan during the past two years, according to estimates by aid groups.
Gates also said he hoped an international envoy would be found within weeks to improve the coordination of aid and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
"A strong civilian representative is needed to coordinate all nations and key international organizations on the ground," said Gates, who visited Afghanistan last week.
British politician Paddy Ashdown, an ex-soldier who performed a similar role as the former U.N. envoy to Bosnia, is considered a favorite for the post. German, Turkish and Norwegian candidates are also reported to be lining up.
Some U.S. lawmakers expressed doubts that President George W. Bush's Republican administration was devoting enough resources to Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan has been the forgotten war," said Ike Skelton, a Democrat from Missouri who chairs the House committee.
Mullen took issue with that description.
"I understand the sentiment but it is not forgotten, sir -- not by me and not by any of the Joint Chiefs," he said.
(Writing by Andrew Gray, editing by Cynthia Osterman)
