BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that NATO allies are considering boosting their military and civilian support for the Afghanistan war.
Gates said he was heartened by allies' commitment to the 8-year-old war, even as the Obama administration mulls whether to order tens of thousands more U.S. troops to the fight.
The Pentagon
chief cited a long-term commitment by NATO partners to remain in Afghanistan until the conflict is successfully resolved.
At a meeting of 28 NATO defense ministers in Bratislava, Gates said he did not seek specific promises of military assistance, and none was given. He described, however, "a renewed determination to see this through."
"There were a number of allies who indicated they were thinking about, or were moving toward, increasing either their military or their civilian contributions, or both," Gates said at a news conference. "And I found that very heartening."
He praised NATO nations for already doubling the number of troops they have sent to Afghanistan over the last 15 months. "People really have been stepping up to this," Gates said.
Gates also sought to assure allies that the United States also will remain in the fight, despite the Obama administration's ongoing indecision over a war strategy.
"We're not pulling out," He said. "I think that any reduction is very unlikely."
He said President Barack Obama would consider specific plans for moving forward over the next two to three weeks.
Speaking minutes earlier, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the defense ministers did not discuss precisely how many more troops might be sent. The U.S. and NATO military commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has asked Obama for as many as 80,000 additional American troops to continue the current mission of countering the escalating Taliban insurgency and protecting the local population.
Rasmussen said McChrystal's request was being reviewed by NATO leaders, many of whom are reluctant to endorse large troop increases before Obama decides on a strategy.
"I have registered broad support from all ministers of this overall counterinsurgency approach, but without discussing resource implications of these recommendations," Rasmussen said.
The top U.N. official in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, also signaled that more NATO troops would soon be on the move. "I do believe that additional international troops will be needed in the future," he said.
Gates spoke before heading into a lunch meeting with officials from nations that have sent troops to Afghanistan. McChrystal also was at the meeting to brief the officials on his on-the-ground assessment of the war zone.
An estimated 104,000 U.S. and NATO troops will be in Afghanistan by the end of the year — two-thirds of which are American.
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