Hundreds more troops are needed to beat Taliban, warns Nato chief
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hundreds more troops are needed to beat Taliban, warns Nato chief*
By Richard Westmacott in Kabul
(Filed: 08/09/2006)
Deadliest blast since Taliban fall causes carnage
Nato's senior military commander yesterday called for hundreds of
reinforcements to combat the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, where he
said fighting was reaching a "decisive moment".
British troops
35 British troops have died since 4,500 began arriving earlier this year
US Gen James Jones said that the commander of Nato forces in
Afghanistan, British Lt Gen David Richards, needed more troops soon.
"We have to give the commander additional insurance in terms of some
forces that can be there, perhaps temporarily, to make sure that we can
carry the moment," he said in Belgium, admitting that the "level of
intensity" of the Taliban's summer offensive had been a surprise.
He said Nato troops were fighting the fiercest battles in the
organisation's history. "It's something akin to poking the bee hive and
the bees are swarming," he said of the Taliban resistance.
Gen Jones said the coalition had lost 21 dead in fighting this year with
80 wounded, with another 21 dead and 37 injured in non-battle incidents
such as the crash of a RAF Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft last Saturday.
In all, 35 British troops have died since a contingent of 4,500 began
arriving earlier this year.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato's secretary-general, joined the general's
appeal, urging alliance members to come to the support of the British,
Canadian and Dutch troops leading the fight.
"Those allies who perhaps are doing less in Afghanistan should think,
'Shouldn't we do more?' There are certainly a number of allies who can
do more," Mr de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Brussels.
The number of troops in the south has risen to about 10,000 since Nato
took over from US forces in July.
Troops have pushing into areas that were previously largely left to
their own devices with limited government presence.
However, they have been facing Taliban fighters who have abandoned their
established hit and run tactics in Helmand and areas of Kandahar
province and instead have taken and held ground with groups of fighters
in the hundreds.
Pressure is now falling on several nations with forces deployed to less
dangerous areas to allow their troops to be redeployed to the south.
Germany, with 2,800 men in the relatively tranquil north, is being
encouraged to loosen restrictions on where its forces are deployed, as
are France, Italy and Turkey. However, a German defence ministry
spokesman said: "It is still the case that our focus is on the northern
region." Gen Jones said a meeting of senior generals from all 26 Nato
nations in Warsaw tomorrow would be used to ask for hundreds of
reinforcements, as well as extra helicopters and transport planes.
"It will help us to reduce casualties and bring this to a successful
conclusion in a short period of time," he said.
"In the relatively near future, certainly before the winter, we will see
this decisive moment in the region turn in favour of the troops that
represent the government."
Gen Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, this week aimed to reassure
Afghanistan and the coalition that his country, accused of tolerating
havens for militants, would act to prevent cross-border Taliban activity.
However, his words were greeted with scepticism by some diplomats in Kabul.
"There was not much acknowledgement of the problems that Afghanistan and
the international community are citing," said one senior Western
diplomat. "There was an almost wilful ill-attention to those concerns."
Canadian forces south-west of Kandahar yesterday reported that they were
tightening their hold on the area where they claim to have several
hundred Taliban fighters trapped in the village of Pashmul.