MUNICH: The United States and Britain urged Nato allies yesterday to provide more troops and equipment to fight insurgents in Afghanistan, with the future of the allied mission there on the line.
"I would be remiss if I did not ask individual countries to examine very closely the forces and other contributions they can provide as ISAF intensifies its efforts in preparation for the elections in August," said the top US commander for southwest Asia, General David Petraeus.
At a major security conference in Germany, Petraeus read off a list of requests for the Nato-led force in Afghanistan, including troops, but also aircraft, medical evacuation facilities, engineers, logistics and trainers.
Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is battling to spread the influence of the weak Afghan government across the strife-torn country, and trying to foster reconstruction.
But the Taliban, backed by Al Qaeda, drug lords and criminal gangs, has been waging an increasingly effective insurgency, notably in the south and the east.
US ambassador Richard Holbrooke insisted that a new approach was required to turn the strife-torn country around, involving all of Afghanistan's neighbours and in particular Pakistan.
"It is like no other problem we have confronted, and in my view it's going to be much tougher than Iraq," he said. "It is going to be a long, difficult struggle."
"The West has been involved in Afghanistan for centuries, always with unfortunate results. I don't think we can afford to get it wrong this time, because for the first time, the situation directly involves the homeland security of the nations involved," he said.
Holbrooke, who is to embark on a regional tour soon, said that the administration of President Barack Obama was reviewing the best way to tackle the Taliban-led insurgency.
"What is required in my view is new ideas, better co-ordination within the US government, better co-ordination with our Nato allies and other concerned countries, and the time to get it right," he said.
Countries bordering Afghanistan must also be drawn in as part of a solution, he said, including Iran but particularly Pakistan, where the Taliban and its backers in Al Qaeda and criminal gangs have rear bases.
"All the neighbours ... play a direct role and we're going to look for more of a regional approach," he said, noting that "Pakistan's situation is dire."
"It needs international assistance, international sympathy and international support," said Holbrooke, the new envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he will start his tour that will also take in India.
The envoy also railed against would-be donors who have failed to live up to their pledges.
"People got up and pledged things, and nothing happened, and that is the story of Afghanistan," he said. "I have never seen anything remotely resembling the mess we have inherited."
Obama has identified Afghanistan as the main front in the "war on terror" and has pledged to send another 30,000 troops.
There are currently some 70,000 soldiers in Afghanistan including 50,000 under the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States have troops on the frontline of that fight, but other allies insist that reconstruction is as important as combat and refuse to redeploy.
Germany and France have ruled out sending more troops. France has some 2,800 personnel in Afghanistan, while Germany, in an election year, has set a ceiling of 4,500, most of whom are based in the relatively quiet north.
"The number of troops is sufficient, what we need is more reconstruction and a building up of the armed forces," said German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung.
British Defence Secretary John Hutton insisted that combat forces were most desperately needed, as only by capturing and holding ground in the hands of the insurgents could the allies ensure that rebuilding can be done.
"Combat forces, that is a most precious contribution right now to that campaign," he said. "We kid ourselves if we imagine that other contributions are as important, right now."
He said that Nato's mission, its most ambitious ever, could be on the line.
"We face a moment of choice. I am frustrated, I think probably all of us are. We are fighting, I think, an existential campaign in Afghanistan," he said.
"What I want from Nato is more of a war-time mentality to rise to the challenge that we face." - Agencies
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