Miliband pledges troop support
David Miliband and Condoleeza Rice are currently in Afghanistan
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Thursday, 07, Feb 2008 02:54
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and British foreign secretary David Miliband have arrived for an unscheduled visit to Afghanistan.
The two are expected to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai over the future of Nato troops in the Asian country, and growing concerns over a resurgent Taliban.
The visit coincides with talks held in London between Ms Rice and Mr Miliband yesterday, where they discussed calling on other members of Nato to assist with troop deployments to help fight insurgencies in the war-torn nation.
After the talks the pair flew direct to Afghanistan on the same flight, and met troops on the ground.
Amid concern over the direction of the Nato mission in the country, Mr Miliband moved to reassure troops.
"As the debate hots up in our countries about what you're doing and the difference you're making, we'll be defending you heart and soul," Mr Miliband told troops at Kandahar Air Field.
Tensions have escalated recently that certain members of the north Atlantic alliance have not been pulling their weight.
And US defence secretary Robert Gates yesterday expressed concern that a "two-tier alliance" may develop between countries such as the US, UK, Canada and the Netherlands, who are providing troops, and other European nations that are not.
"I worry a great deal about the alliance evolving into a two-tiered alliance, in which you have some allies willing to fight and die to protect peoples' security, and others who are not," Mr Gates said.
"It puts a cloud over the future of the alliance if this is to endure, or perhaps even get worse."
The thoughts were echoed today by Ms Rice, who said: "Frankly, I hope that there will be more troop contributions and there need to be more Afghan contributions."
The US' concerns come after it was forced to provide additional troops for the effort in Afghanistan, despite first calling upon other Nato members to provide the numbers.
Up to 3,200 US marines have since been deployed to Afghanistan in a bid to maintain some semblance of order in the southern provinces.
Nato has had a significant presence in Afghanistan since 2001, when western troops ousted the Taliban government from Kabul following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the US.
However, criticism has been growing in the US over the commitments of the country's armed forces across the world, especially since a massive military presence has also been required in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.