Nato members 'wavering' over Afghanistan war

London: Nato members are wavering in their political commitment to Afghanistan, one of the alliance's top commanders said on Sunday, describing the nearly seven-year-old campaign against the Taliban as disjointed.

Pointing to more than 70 "caveats" that give individual countries a veto over certain operations, and the fact that troop commitments remain unfulfilled, General John Craddock said he was fearful the operation was being short-changed.

"We are demonstrating a political will that is in my judgment sometimes wavering," Craddock, a US General and Nato's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, said in a speech to policymakers and defence analysts in London.

"It's this wavering political will that impedes operational progress and brings into question the relevance of the alliance here in the 21st century," he said.

Dialogue needed

Nato troops serve in Afghanistan under a United Nations mandate. That mandate initially limited their operations to Kabul, but in 2003 was expanded to give Nato a wider role to support the Afghan government throughout the country.

Craddock defended the view expressed by Britain's outgoing commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, that the Taliban could not be defeated militarily and that at some level insurgents needed to be drawn into a dialogue.