Tweet
US urges allies to fund Afghan army growth
By James Blitz in London
Published: September 18 2008 17:27 | Last updated: September 18 2008 17:27
The US will on Friday begin putting pressure on its Nato partners to provide the $20bn (€14bn, £11bn) that Washington believes is necessary to fund plans to double the size of the Afghan national army over the next five years.
Opening what might be a new front in transatlantic tensions over Nato’s Afghan mission, Robert Gates, US defence secretary, is set to tell his alliance counterparts that Washington expects them to meet most of the cost of doubling Afghanistan’s indigenous army from 65,000 troops to about 134,000 by 2014.
Arriving in London for an informal summit of Nato defence ministers, Mr Gates said the question of who would pay for the Afghan national army would be raised at a private discussion on Friday on the organisation’s funding and possible transformation.
“One of the issues that I’ll be raising in the meetings . . . is that we need, as an alliance, to figure out a way to pay for that increase in the size of the Afghan national army,” he told reporters.
By James Blitz in London
Published: September 18 2008 17:27 | Last updated: September 18 2008 17:27
The US will on Friday begin putting pressure on its Nato partners to provide the $20bn (€14bn, £11bn) that Washington believes is necessary to fund plans to double the size of the Afghan national army over the next five years.
Opening what might be a new front in transatlantic tensions over Nato’s Afghan mission, Robert Gates, US defence secretary, is set to tell his alliance counterparts that Washington expects them to meet most of the cost of doubling Afghanistan’s indigenous army from 65,000 troops to about 134,000 by 2014.
Arriving in London for an informal summit of Nato defence ministers, Mr Gates said the question of who would pay for the Afghan national army would be raised at a private discussion on Friday on the organisation’s funding and possible transformation.
“One of the issues that I’ll be raising in the meetings . . . is that we need, as an alliance, to figure out a way to pay for that increase in the size of the Afghan national army,” he told reporters.
Comment