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Reuters November 17, 2009 NATO chief confident of big troop increase By Adrian Croft EDINBURGH: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Tuesday he was confident the alliance would substantially increase its forces battling Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. U.S. President Barack Obama is weighing several options for boosting U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan as a debate rages in his administration over whether to persist with a counter-insurgency strategy or whether to narrow it to a counter-terrorism drive against al Qaeda. "In a few weeks, I expect we will decide, in NATO, on the approach, and troop levels needed, to take our mission forward," Rasmussen told a meeting of the NATO parliamentary assembly in Edinburgh. "I'm confident it will be a counter-insurgency approach, with substantially more forces...," he said. Mounting casualties this year in some of the fiercest fighting since the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001 has undermined public support for the war in some NATO countries, including Britain. "NEW MOMENTUM" Rasmussen said he understood people's concerns. "But people should be reassured that soon there will be new momentum," he said. He urged NATO governments to provide more military resources, including extra combat forces for ISAF and more troops to partner with and to train Afghan security forces. .... Obama is considering various options for boosting U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, ranging from dispatching 10,000 to about 40,000 additional troops, according to a U.S. official. .... Defense Secretary Robert Gates has signaled he would be reluctant to scale back the counter-insurgency campaign. Nearly 68,000 U.S. and 40,000 allied troops are at present deployed in Afghanistan. .... (Editing by Charles Dick) =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato Blog site: http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/ To subscribe, send an e-mail to: [email protected] or [email protected] Daily digest option available. ============================== --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bNM5nn.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [email protected] For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------
