World | Afghanistan
Australia urges more troops for Afghanistan
Australia, the United States' largest non-Nato partner in Afghanistan, says 10,000 more troops are needed to quell a resurgent Taliban.
- AP
- Published: 00:11 June 6, 2008
Canberra: Australia, the United States' largest non-Nato partner in Afghanistan, says 10,000 more troops are needed to quell a resurgent Taliban, and that Europe's unwillingness to commit more forces is likely to leave the task to Washington.
Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said progress in Afghanistan would remain too slow without thousands of additional troops to take more ground and secure the territory gained.
"I do fear that eventually it will fall to the US to do much more," Fitzgibbon said at his office in the capital, Canberra.
"I find that disappointing, frankly, because we are in partnership and we do need to strive for greater burden sharing," he said of the Nato force.
Little choice
"I suspect that in the end - unless attitudes change substantially - the US will feel that they have little choice but to do more."
Fitzgibbon said at least 10,000 additional troops are needed in Afghanistan to achieve the military objectives set out at a Nato summit in Bucharest in April.
About 65,000 international troops are stationed in Afghanistan, including 51,000 in the 40-nation Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The US has about 33,000 troops in the country, including those in the ISAF.
"Having spoken to a number of European countries over the course of the last four months, I don't see a lot of hope that anyone else is about to put their hand up anytime soon. That's a worry because if the extra troops don't come, progress will continue to be all too slow," he said.
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