NATO Call For More Troops Rejected
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer England (AHN) -The call for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members to send thousands more troops to support British forces in Afghanistan were rejected. No member nation committed to deploy extra troops from the alliance's political leaders. NATO military commanders have said they will need at least 2,500 soldiers to engage with the Taliban on southern Afghanistan. The UK, Canada and the Netherlands are the major contributors to NATO's 18,500 soldier contingent as part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). France, Germany, Spain and Poland have not been a cooperative in providing troops for the south. NATO spokesman, James Appathurai, said no "formal offers" have been made but assures that there had been indications that some troops could be brought in at a later date. "The Canadians, Brits and many others are fighting very, very hard and they're stretched thin, and they need overall support," Appathurai said. Sir Menzies Campbell, a Liberal Democrats' leader, voiced opinion in favor of sentiments. "Any military strategy is only as good as the resources and capabilities behind it. If NATO countries are unwilling to provide sufficient forces and equipment to enable the existing strategy to be fully implemented, the strategy may well have to be rethought," he said.
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