Gates: Taliban Getting Weapons From Iran
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
June 14, 2007
Page 2 of 2
The officials, who requested anonymity so they could preview the secretary's plans for the NATO session, said coalition forces in Afghanistan need up to four battalions -- or as many as 3,000 combat troops, along with about an equal amount of trainers. Gates has said he would like some NATO and non-alliance nations to contribute some of the training forces.
In addition, NATO allies are trying to assemble training teams that can be embedded with Afghan units.
In February and again in April, Gates exhorted NATO allies to bolster their troop commitments in Afghanistan so the alliance could launch its own offensive against the Taliban and pre-empt what has been an annual spring increase in insurgent attacks.
That offensive got under way with the aid of additional U.S. troops.
During a visit to Afghanistan this month, Gates said NATO's push was making progress. But he said Iranian weapons, responsible for widespread violence and U.S. troop casualties in Iraq, increasingly were showing up in Afghanistan.
In particular, NATO officials said they have found armor-piercing roadside bombs -- known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs -- in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
The struggle to pressure NATO countries to live up to their commitments has led Gates to question whether the alliance should continue to mount a 25,000-troop response force.
The U.S. currently has 26,000 troops in Afghanistan, including some 14,000 in the NATO-led force.
Also expected to come up during the NATO meeting is the U.S. proposal to locate missile defense radars and interceptors in eastern Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a recent meeting with President Bush, offered an alternative, joint use of a radar station in Azerbaijan.
Asked Wednesday about the proposal, Gates said that he hopes to discuss the matter with Russian officials and ''certainly underscore our interest in exploring with them President Putin's proposal.''
Gates said he is pleased Putin has acknowledged there is merit to missile defense and that Iran poses a problem that must be dealt with through such defensive systems.
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