NATO allies face U.S. pressure on Afghan troops

A soldier from the French Foreign Legion, a unit of the French army, patrols in Deh Sabz district of Kabul province October 3, 2009.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Washington's NATO allies face pressure on Thursday to commit more troops and money to the war in Afghanistan, supplementing President Barack Obama's announcement of an increase in U.S. troops.

European leaders have welcomed Obama's Afghanistan strategy, which includes sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to join the fight against a Taliban insurgency.

But they have been in less of a hurry to commit new forces to an uncertain, 8-year military campaign that is increasingly unpopular at home because of rising casualties. NATO foreign ministers will discuss the issue on Thursday and Friday.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday he expected U.S. allies to provide at least 5,000 extra troops and probably a few thousand more -- still short of the 10,000 troops and trainers Pentagon officials had sought.

NATO officials said about 1,500 of the 5,000 would be election reinforcements sent in earlier this year. At the same time, the Netherlands and Canada plan to withdraw combat forces of 2,100 and 2,800 in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

U.S. officials say Washington is now seeking up to 7,000 more troops from allies to supplement the U.S. increase. Italy said on Thursday it would send up to 1,000 more troops.

A senior U.S. official said the United States had put forward its views on what it believed other countries were capable of providing, either militarily or financially.

"The decision on whether they will is up to them," he said. "We expect that other allies will look very seriously at how they can contribute to that effort."

"This is the time to think about how we can do better, and perhaps do more, not the time to figure out how we can do less."

ITALY PLANS INCREASE

Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La RUSSA said in an interview published in Thursday's Corriere della Sera newspaper that Italy would send around 1,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan, raising its total force to around 3,700.

Britain, which has the second largest troop contingent in the war zone, plans to boost its commitment by 500 to 10,000, and NATO officials said others that have announced plans to send more troops were Georgia (900), Poland (600) and Slovakia (250).

Portugal is keeping its pledge made earlier this year to send 150 troops from its "rapid deployment" force to join 100 military trainers in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Augusto Santos Silva said.

Albania said it would send its first 35 combat troops, as well as 50 trainers and other military personnel to join 250 already in Afghanistan.

But the response elsewhere has been cautious.

Germany has signaled a willingness to do more police training but said it could not commit more troops before a strategy review early next year.

France said on Monday it did not plan to send more troops but President Nicolas Sarkozy responded to Obama's speech by saying it would look at helping to train Afghan forces.

Sarkozy said he would review his position after the NATO meeting and a U.N.-sponsored conference in London on January 28.

Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said Budapest would consider the U.S. request for more troops, but a decision was not likely immediately.

U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said he hoped for continued Dutch support. A NATO diplomat said it was hoped the Dutch and Canadians could be persuaded to keep troops, perhaps as trainers for Afghan forces.