This is our fight together, Hillary Clinton says after troops pledge

From The Times

Hillary Clinton has welcomed pledges of 7,000 extra troops from 25 countries to join the US surge in Afghanistan, although a large part of the commitment came from nations outside Nato.

The US Secretary of State told Nato yesterday that Afghanistan was “a crucial test for the most successful military alliance in history”. However, the grand total of reinforcements to the 30,000-strong US surge was made more respectable by 1,000 troops from Georgia and 500 from South Korea.

Britain will provide 1,200 soldiers, with 500 new troops, and 700 who were sent to help with the Afghan election remaining in the country. Italy and Poland made the next most substantial offers, with 1,000 and 600 respectively, but France said that it was unlikely to send frontline soldiers.

The number of foreign forces from the 44-country International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) will now be more than 140,000, although more training staff are needed for the Afghan Army and police.

“This is our fight, together. And we must finish it together. The US will not ask others to do what we are not prepared to do ourselves,” Mrs Clinton told foreign ministers in Brussels.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary-General, wanted to correct the impression that the withdrawal deadline of July 2011 for US troops announced by President Obama was a decision to quit Afghanistan. “It will not be a run for the exit. It will be a well-co-ordinated and well-prepared transition to Afghan-led responsibility in provinces and districts where conditions so permit,” Mr Rasmussen said.

He declined to say how many of the 25 contributing countries were from Nato. Germany and France were among prominent Nato members waiting for the Afghanistan summit in London on January 28 before making commitments.

Mr Rasmussen said: “Nations are backing up their words with deeds. At least 25 countries will send more forces to the mission in 2010. They have offered around 7,000 new forces with more to come. That is solidarity in action and it will have a powerful effect on the ground.”

Mr Rasmussen wants Nato operations to focus on aid, training and efforts to reintegrate Taleban fighters into society. “There should be no misunderstanding. We are not going to leave Afghanistan to fall back into the hands of terrorists and the extremists who host them,” he said.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said: “We are now at a vital time and we all know that in the 1990s Afghanistan was the incubator of international terrorism, the incubator of choice for global jihad.”

Major-General Eric Tremblay, a spokesman for Isaf in Afghanistan, said that it needed 41 military training teams and 174 police training teams. Isaf wants to have 134,000 troops in the Afghan Army by October and a 96,800-strong police force by June.

A new offensive was started in Helmand province by about 900 Isaf and 150 Afghan national security forces. Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Helmand governor, said: “So far, four Taleban dead bodies were left behind on the battlefield. But enemy casualties could be higher.”