U.S., UK say allies must share Afghan combat burden

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.

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.

GERMANY UNCHANGED

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.