KABUL, 11 January 2008 — Afghanistan yesterday welcomed US plans to send extra 3,000 troops to fight the Taleban insurgency, but Washington’s move highlights divisions between Western allies over how much to commit to the country. In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer welcomed the US plans but stressed that a number of European allies had in recent months had also added forces there.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was considering sending an additional 3,000 Marines to thwart any Taleban spring offensive, bringing to around 30,000 the number of American servicemen and women in Afghanistan.

Around half the US contingent serves in a 40,000-strong NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), while the rest conduct missions ranging from counter-terrorism to reconstruction to training Afghan troops.

Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry, said the increase in troop numbers would help anti-insurgency operations as the new national army continued to grow. “As we are in the fight together with the international community, the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan is considered necessary in the current situation,” he said.

“(But) The Afghan National Army is the answer for the long-term security in Afghanistan to thwart internal and external threats to the country and to maintain the force balance,” he said, adding the number of trained soldiers would grow from 58,000 to 70,000 in the next two months.

Washington, stretched by last year’s troop surge in Iraq, has for months been trying in vain to persuade NATO allies to commit more combat troops to Afghanistan to take up the slack. But European governments have been reluctant to increase their operations here and, wary of a big dip in domestic public support for their continued presence, have been scaling back.

“Our allies are not in a position to provide them (extra troops), so we are now looking at perhaps carrying a bit of that additional load,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said in Washington, adding most of the Marines would join British, Canadian and Dutch troops in the south.

However, de Hoop Scheffer pointed to recent smaller additions from countries such as France, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland — which on Wednesday announced it would add 400 troops and helicopters — to its existing 1,200-strong contingent. “You cannot say the allies are not active enough, because they are active ... But I still think we can do better,” he told reporters at an event in Brussels, noting persistent shortfalls in NATO’s forces.

He also stressed the ultimate answer was not military but a long-term commitment to reconstruction and development.