Agence France-Presse,
NATO allies with troops deployed in southern Afghanistan agreed Thursday to strengthen the coalition to confront a Taliban offensive, but stayed silent on sending more units to the battlefield.
Envoys from Australia, Britain, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Romania and the United States, as well as Canada, met behind closed doors for informal talks in Quebec City's old citadel.
“Our discussions at the meeting focused on creating greater coherence in our collective efforts to provide the security and stability necessary to ensure that terrorism does not take root in Afghanistan,” said Canada's Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor.
He said their goal was to “coordinate our efforts better in the south,” “better train the Afghan army and the police” and “coordinate our efforts in reconstruction.”
“But specifically in this meeting we didn't talk about extra troops,” O'Connor said.
“Right now the ISAF commander believes that (the current troop commitment) is sufficient for him in the south,” he said, referring to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
Earlier, local media, citing US officials, reported that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates would press the group to send more supplies to Afghanistan, but added Washington would not commit more troops or equipment.
Gates had announced Wednesday that US army soldiers would see their tours of duty in Afghanistan extended to 15 months from 12 in a sign the US military is straining to meet its commitments.
Australia also said Wednesday it would double its deployment, and Poland agreed recently to boost its troop numbers by about 1,000.
The Netherlands Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop told public broadcaster CBC his country would consider mid-2007 whether to extend the Dutch mission.
“Sometimes, it's a filthy war … so risky,” he said. But “we all knew that it was a difficult job and we made the choice (to be) in the difficult south of Afghanistan and we did it with very good allies.”
O'Connor meanwhile announced Canada would soon replace its 17 ageing tanks in volatile Kandahar province with 20 Leopard II tanks loaned from Germany, anticipating “a surge in the Taliban this spring and summer.”
Another 100 tanks purchased from the Netherlands would be modified and rotated onto the Afghan battlefield by the end of the year, he said.
Canada has deployed 2,500 soldiers in southern Afghanistan as part of the 37,000-strong ISAF contingent that is supporting the government of President Hamid Karzai. Separately there are around 11,000 US-led coalition troops.
NATO commanders have requested additional troops and armaments, but the alliance's response has been timid. NATO needs more aircraft, medical equipment and military trainers, plus money to rebuild the war-torn country.
Canadian, US and British officials have also lamented that caveats by some countries restrict the alliance's ability to deploy in war zones.
Around 1,000 people, the majority of them militants, have been killed in Taliban-related violence this year. Last year was the bloodiest since 2001 with almost 4,000 dead.
Canada suffered its heaviest single-day troop loss in 50 years, with six killed on April 8, Easter Sunday, outside the southern city of Kandahar.
On Wednesday two more Canadian soldiers were killed and three were injured in two separate roadside bombings near their vehicles west of Kandahar City, the birthplace of the Taliban, increasing Canada's death toll to 53 since 2002.
Two more NATO soldiers were killed Thursday in separate explosions in Afghanistan, taking the number of foreign soldiers killed in the country to 11 in less than a week, ISAF said.
Meanwhile, 35 Islamist Taliban fighters were killed in fierce fighting with Afghan and US-led troops in troubled Zabul province late Wednesday, Afghan officials said.
Four Afghan soldiers were also killed and nearly two dozen wounded in the province after being ambushed by Taliban insurgents on Monday
