NATO seeks reinforcements for south Afghanistan

MONS, Belgium, Sep 7: NATO's top commander of operations, General James Jones, acknowledged today the alliance had been taken aback by the level of violence in south Afghanistan and urged allies to provide reinforcements.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer joined his appeal, urging alliance members to come to the support of the British, Canadian and Dutch troops leading the fight against Islamist Taliban guerrillas in the south.

''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,'' de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Brussels.

Neither singled out individual NATO members. Diplomats say Germany, which leads the NATO mission in the relatively calm north, is under pressure to offer reinforcements for the south.

A German Defence Ministry spokesman played down prospects of Berlin redeploying any of its 2,700 troops southwards, saying: ''It is still the case that our focus is on the northern region.'' Several NATO soldiers have been killed in fierce fighting with the Taliban since the alliance extended its peacekeeping mission to the south a month ago.

Jones said commanders of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) sought several hundred additional reserve troops, more helicopters and transport aircraft.

''We are talking about modest reinforcements,'' he told a news briefing at NATO's European military headquarters in Mons, Belgium, after both he and de Hoop Scheffer returned from a three-day trip to Afghanistan.

Jones said he would use a meeting with national military chiefs in Warsaw starting tomorrow to plead with NATO nations to remove the restrictions, known as caveats, on how and where their country's troops can be used.

Bee Hive

''While some of it (violence) is predictable, we should recognise we are a little bit surprised at the level of intensity, and (the fact) that the opposition in some areas are not relying on traditional hit-and-run tactics,'' he said.

''It's something akin to poking the bee hive and the bees are swarming,'' he said of the Taliban resistance in the south.

NATO is taking over security responsibility, alongside the Afghan army, from a US-led force that invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to overthrow a Taliban government that was sheltering al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks on the United States.

British NATO troops in outlying outposts have come under siege from Taliban fighters. But Jones said he was confident the violence could be contained quickly.

''It is my feeling that ... certainly before the winter, we will see this decisive moment in the region turn favourably to the forces that represent the (Afghan) government and the efforts we are trying to achieve,'' he said. Winter starts in the southern highlands around the end of October.

The rising death toll among Canadian NATO soldiers in Afghanistan has prompted calls for the Ottawa government to rethink its military mission in the war-torn country. Some Dutch and German lawmakers have also voiced fresh misgivings.

Jones said ISAF had lost 21 dead in fighting this year with 80 wounded. That did not include 21 deaths and 37 injuries in non-battle incidents such as the crash of a British spy plane.

He criticised the progress of international efforts to help reconstruct Afghanistan, in particular the fight against narcotics smuggling and surging opium production.

''Right now in my view, it plays a large role and we are not effective yet in finding a solution to that problem,'' he said.

REUTERS