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NATO military authorities called for two more battalions and support forces to put down a Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, but some allied defence ministers voiced scepticism.
No public pledges of more troops were made by defence ministers attending an informal meeting in Spain despite broad assurances by Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that the allies will do more in Afghanistan this year.
But he insisted that the talks “saw some nations stepping up to the plate”, without elaborating.
US General Bantz Craddock, NATO's new supreme commander, presented the ministers with revised requirements for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan ahead of an anticipated Taliban offensive in coming weeks.
Scheffer would not comment on the specifics of Craddock's report but another NATO official said the general was seeking two additional battalions, about 2,000 troops, in part to secure Afghanistan's long border with Pakistan.
Afghanistan's lawless border regions are a major haven for international terrorism, and the area where the Taliban militia have regrouped.
Yet despite repeated calls over several months by NATO commanders for more resources, the 26 member countries have appeared reluctant to put more of their forces in harm's way.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates extended a US combat brigade for four months in Afghanistan, effectively increasing the size of the 35,000-strong ISAF ahead of the spring fighting season, and urged the allies to follow suit.
“2007 is a crucial year in Afghanistan,” he told reporters after the first day of informal talks in Seville ended. “The spring offensive in Afghanistan should be our offensive.”
“We have an opportunity this spring to significantly disrupt the increasing cycles of violence that we have seen over the last few years caused by the Taliban,” he said.
Allies with troops committed in southern Afghanistan echoed the sentiment.
“We have taken a decision in NATO to do the job and all countries in NATO should provide soldiers,” said Danish Defence Minister Soren Gade, whose country is providing 400 personnel, among the most per capita of any member.
“If we do not send more soldiers to Afghanistan there is a risk that we might fail,” he warned.
But Germany, which this week approved the deployment of six Tornado fighter jets for non-combat surveillance missions, suggested there was too much emphasis on a military solution.
“When the Russians were in Afghanistan they had 100,000 soldiers and they didn't win,” German Defence Minister Franz-Josef Jung told reporters.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie urged her partners to set more precise goals in Afghanistan, following Craddock's call for more troops.
We have to debate fixed objectives and know why we have to boost our military means, she told the ministers, according to an official with the French delegation.
The official said that Craddock had been seeking helicopters, special forces soldiers and attack jets.
A NATO official said with the boost in US forces, ISAF will be entering the spring with considerably more combat power than last year when it was surprised by the bloodiest offensive since the Taliban's fall in late 2001.
A brigade from the 82nd Airborne is due to arrive soon in Afghanistan, making available more troops for the volatile eastern sector of the country and a battalion in the south to operate as a theater reserve.
NATO commanders want enough troops on hand to pursue Taliban fighters crossing the border into Afghanistan while also defending major population centers.
