Afghanistan needs more troops, top general says
Nato's international force is made up of 37 countries' troops
Also In The News
|
England boss Steve McClaren pronounced himself satisfied with England's narrow victory over Macedonia in Skopje - saying that his side's hosts had provided exactly the test he had expected. |  |
Thursday, 07, Sep 2006 11:55
Coalition forces in Afghanistan need a "modest" increase in troops, Nato's top commander of operations has said today.
General James Jones admitted that the extent of fighting in the wartorn country in recent months has surprised military chiefs and urged countries involved in the multinational force to commit reinforcements.
At a press briefing in Belgium, Gen Jones said that since Nato took over command of the volatile south of the country there has been a worrying upsurge in insurgency violence.
Referring to it as "akin to poking the bee-hive and the bees are swarming", the commander said that he would be meeting representatives of the 37 countries involved in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) to ask them to contribute more resources.
"While some of [the violence] is predictable, we should recognise we are a little bit surprised at the level of intensity, and that the opposition in some areas are not relying on traditional hit-and-run tactics," the American commander said.
He added: "[Further reinforcements] will help us reduce casualties and help us bring this to a successful conclusion in a shorter period of time."
A number of countries only allow their soldiers to be deployed in certain areas of the country and the military general is hopeful that such limitations can be relaxed.
The top Nato commander's comments come at a time when concern is high in the coalition countries about the number of servicemen being killed while on active duty.
Britain is leading the Nato expedition in the south of the country and 19 UK soldiers have died in Afghanistan this month alone.
And speaking today, James Arbuthnot, the Conservative chair of the Commons Defence Select Committee, has called for more troops - and better armed troops - to be provided for Afghanistan.
Mr Arbuthnot told the Today programme, he feared the concept of "overwhelming force" had not been fully taken on board.
"My view is that if we were to have available a greater degree of force, in other words more soldiers, better armed, then we would lose fewer people and we would be a much more powerful force on the ground," he said.
"Not necessarily tens of thousands, but a lot more than we've got there now. We've got a very small number of people given the size of the ground that we're trying to dominate."
Britain currently has about 4,900 armed forces personnel deployed in Afghanistan, of which 3,600 are in the south. Defence secretary Des Browne recently revealed that a further 900 will be sent to the region shortly.