Nato boss wants better support in Afghanistan

Britain’s Nato partners were urged to send more troops to Afghanistan today by the organisation’s secretary-general.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the mission is hampered by shortages of men and equipment.

“The fact that we have not fully been able to live up to the promises that nations have made is a point of concern for me,” Mr de Hoop Scheffer said during a visit to Denmark.

Nato has 40,000 troops in Afghanistan but commanders complain they lack helicopters, mobile units and instructors to train the Afghan army. The alliance also needs more quick-manoeuvre units to take control of territory won from the Taliban.

“It is of utmost importance that we stay committed; we cannot allow Afghanistan once again to become a safe haven for terrorists,” said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“We urge all partners in Nato to provide a sufficient number of troops for this very important military operation.”

Denmark last month increased its contingent from 440 to 600 troops in Afghanistan.

Britain currently has more than 6,000 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in the volatile southern province of Helmand, scene of some of the heaviest recent fighting.

The bulk of the Danes are also based in the south.

Nations with troops in the southern frontline provinces have complained that some allies – such as Germany, Italy and Spain – have limited their deployment to the relatively stable north and west.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer said he backed Mr Rasmussen’s call and added that the question of contributions to the Afghan mission will be raised at a meeting of defence ministers from the 26-member alliance in the Netherlands later this month.

That meeting is expected to see efforts to muster 26 more training teams to embed with Afghan army units on top of the 20 the alliance already has. Such teams are seen as essential to plans to give local troops a greater role in anti-Taliban operations beginning next spring.

However, with western commanders predicting several years before Afghan forces can take a lead role, Nato is seeking to maintain commitments from allied nations.

Canada, a major contributor in the South, has said its military mission will not be extended beyond 2009 without a consensus in the country and the Parliament.

In the Netherlands, lawmakers are to vote later this month on whether to extend the mission of the country’s 1,350 troops in Afghanistan.