Britain hopeful of more support in Afghanistan

Nato officials today played down talk of a rift within the alliance over the reluctance of some European nations to commit additional troops to Afghanistan where British and US soldiers now make up over half of the 35,000 strong international force.

Defence Secretary Des Browne expressed confidence other allies would provide additional resources despite doubts expressed by France and Germany about plans to push more troops into the country.

“We’ve put our money where our mouth is, we are contributing arguably more than our fair share because we believe in this mission,” Browne told reporters.

He said Britain had to “continually remind our other Nato allies that they need to do likewise” but added they were coming to “the realisation that they will need to do the same.”

Nato’s new top commander, US Gen John Craddock, presented defence ministers yesterday with a plan to sharpen the alliance’s operation by adding more mobile combat units in the volatile southern and eastern regions for a spring offensive against the Taliban.