BRATISLAVA, Slovakia | Top NATO and United Nations officials signaled Friday they may request more international troops to join American forces in Afghanistan as the top U.S. defense official said President Obama is still weeks away from deciding on a shift in war strategy.
At a Friday meeting of 28 NATO defense ministers, Pentagon chief Robert M. Gates said allies indicated a willingness to boost military and civilian aid - even as Mr. Obama remains undecided over whether to escalate U.S. troop strength to counter Afghan insurgents.
“I do believe that additional international troops will be needed in the future,” agreed Kai Eide, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen cited “broad support” from defense ministers to stick with a war strategy devised by American commander Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal that calls for tens of thousands more combat troops - including as many as 80,000 Americans.
The NATO ministers did not, however, discuss specific numbers of troops to be sent, Mr. Rasmussen said. Mr. Gates added that he did not seek specific aid promises.
NATO officials have largely resisted U.S. entreaties to boost their troop contributions to Afghanistan. Britain recently pledged to send 500 troops but only if NATO and the U.S. increased its numbers as well.
The Obama administration is still considering whether to approve Gen. McChystal’s proposed strategy aimed at eliminating terrorist threats by curbing the Taliban, in part by securing communities and protecting local Afghan people.
Mr. Gates said Friday that the “analytical phase” of the administration’s war strategy review was nearing an end, but cautioned that Mr. Obama will sift over options provided by his national security team during the next two to three weeks. That target date could coincide closely with the planned Nov. 7 election runoff between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.
An estimated 104,000 U.S. and NATO troops will be in Afghanistan by the end of the year - two-thirds of them American.
Gen. McChrystal, who flew to Bratislava late Thursday, offered the defense ministers a 15-minute update on the war and his overview of how to win it.
Mr. Gates said he was buoyed by the allied support of the 8-year-old war that has grown increasingly unpopular in NATO nations. “There were a number of allies who indicated they were thinking about, or were moving toward, increasing either their military or their civilian contributions, or both,” he told reporters. “And I found that very heartening.”
Still, several NATO ministers sounded dubious about agreeing to send more forces without assurances by the Obama administration to do the same. They also cited concerns about committing more aid to Mr. Karzai’s corruption-tainted government - at least before the Nov. 7 runoff election.
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