LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and Britain called on reluctant NATO allies on Wednesday to share the burden of combat against hardline Taliban guerrillas.
By Sue Pleming and Adrian Croft
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and Britain called on reluctant NATO allies on Wednesday to share the burden of combat against hardline Taliban guerrillas.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in London for crisis talks with British leaders on Afghanistan, said only a small number of NATO nations had troops in the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan.
"We believe very strongly that there ought to be a sharing of that burden throughout the (NATO) alliance," said Rice, who met Foreign Minister David Miliband before discussing Afghan strategy with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Rice said governments should be straightforward about what was needed to fight Islamist Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
"Our populations need to understand that this is not a peacekeeping mission. It's a counter-insurgency fight," Rice said at a joint news conference with Miliband.
Brown told parliament he wanted NATO allies at a summit in Bucharest in April to commit to a fair sharing of the task.
"We have 15 percent of the troops in Afghanistan ... We need a proper burden sharing not only in terms of personnel but also in terms of helicopters and other equipment," he said.
Some NATO countries have bristled at public criticism from Washington over the refusal of a number of alliance members to position their forces in the more dangerous south.
Germany, for example, under its parliamentary mandate can send only 3,500 soldiers to the less dangerous north as part of the 42,000-strong NATO mission.
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That means most of the fighting against the Taliban is shouldered by Canada, Britain, the United States and the Netherlands. They all want others to contribute more.
Germany rejected pressure again on Wednesday to put troops in the south, saying extra forces would go only to the north.
Britain announced a rotation of its troops in Afghanistan on Wednesday but said their numbers would remain about the same. Brown said Britain planned to send new helicopters and other equipment in the next few months.
"I am confident that the 7,700 troops that we have got in Afghanistan are the right number," Miliband said.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer, is set for another bumper crop this year, giving a windfall to the Taliban who tax farmers.
Asked about the U.N. report, Rice said narcotics were a big challenge, adding there needed to be better law enforcement.
"There are a lot of very big fish involved in this."
Two U.S. non-governmental reports last week said Afghanistan risked becoming a failed state and a haven for global terrorism without new U.S. and international efforts to beat the Taliban.
Western efforts in Afghanistan have been fragmented and Rice and Miliband said they hoped a new international envoy could be appointed soon to coordinate this work.
Part of Rice's London visit is to smooth relations after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates upset many close allies, including Britain, when he questioned the preparedness of some NATO members for counter-insurgency in southern Afghanistan.
"It is bumpy and there is a lot of maturing that the alliance is having to do," said Rice.
The United States has 29,000 military personnel in Afghanistan, about half of them attached to the NATO mission. Washington plans to send an extra 3,200 troops and hopes this will encourage others to do the same.
Canada has said it would pull out its forces early next year if other NATO countries did not send in more. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in December France could boost its presence in Afghanistan to help the Afghan army and police.
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
