Europe fails to match US troops in Afghanistan
Updated
European members of NATO have failed to pledge more troops to Afghanistan despite pressure from the United States in the wake of its commitment to send in 17,000 extra soldiers.
The US President wants other NATO countries to shoulder more of the burden and his defence secretary is in Europe to lobby his NATO counterparts.
Presenter: Stephanie Kennedy
Speakers: John Hutton, Britain's Defence Minister; Peter MacKay, Canadian Defence Minister; James Appathurai is a spokesman for NATO; Bogdan Klich, Poland's Defence Minister
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STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Just as the US unveiled its troop surge the Kyrgyzstan Parliament voted to close a key logistical hub in Central Asia for American forces in Afghanistan.
The base acts as a refuelling point and transit site for personnel in and out of Afghanistan and shutting it down will complicate America's plans to send in thousands of additional troops. And with the United States pledging an extra 17,000 troops to the campaign against the Taliban, the pressure is now on America's allies to step up.
So as the 26 defence ministers of the NATO countries descended on the Polish city of Krakow, there were calls from the British for Europe to follow the US President's lead.
With 9,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, the UK has the second largest contingent of troops and Britain's Defence Minister John Hutton is adamant that it's now up to others.
JOHN HUTTON: Well we are not doing enough. That is our view. We need to do more. It is a scandal for example that NATO has thousands of helicopters but we have got so few of them operating in Afghanistan. We have got to look at that. We need more security forces on the ground. The clock is ticking.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: As Barack Obama touched down in the capital of Canada on his first foreign visit as US President the Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay also expressed his frustration with Europe.
PETER MACKAY: Canada has committed a great deal to this mission. There is a burden sharing issue and if NATO was a fire brigade, you know, clearly you need trucks to carry the hoses and bring people to the fire but there has to be people willing to run into the burning house and Canada has always been one of those countries.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: But while Europe keenly supports America's troop surge there was no sign of any great enthusiasm from Europe to send in more combat soldiers
James Appathurai is a spokesman for NATO and he says Europe will send temporary forces during the Afghan elections later this year.
JAMES APPATHURAI: A strategic priority for 2009 is election support. There is a commitment around the NATO table to provide the forces necessary to allow the elections to go forward in a secure manner.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: But Poland's Defence Minister Bogdan Klich is optimistic some NATO members will send more frontline troops eventually.
BOGDAN KLICH: We don't consider right now to send more troops to Afghanistan but I hope that there will be countries that will decide so.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Until then America, Britain and Australia will have to soldier on without any more help from Europe.
