Senator Clinton wants more US troops in Afghan

Washington, Jan 18: Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential presidential candidate, who favors capping the number of US troops in Iraq, has called for increasing American forces in Afghanistan to meet the Taliban challenge.

Ms Clinton, who recently returned from a tour of Baghdad and Kabul, told a press conference here yesterday that sending more troops to Afghanistan was necessary as the Taliban forces were waiting to attack when weather permits.

Earlier, Ms Clinton and her party colleague Senator Evan Bayh, who accompanied her during the tour of the two countries, in a letter, urged Defense Secretary Robert Gates to deploy some 2,300 more troops to Afghanistan to maintain progress there and help the Afghans against a likely Taliban offensive in the spring.

''Unlike in Iraq, we have a government in Afghanistan committed to promoting national interests over sectarian ones, which is making tangible progress in governance, sincerely wants more US help, and is fighting the enemy that brought us September 11,'' Ms Clinton and Mr Bayh wrote.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, currently on a visit to Afghanistan, said he would ask President George W Bush to add US troops to the 24,000-strong American force now there, the highest level of a 5-year-old war.

In addition to the US force, NATO has about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan.

UNI