Bush: NATO allies must provide additional troops in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- Describing a country on the brink, President Bush on Thursday exhorted NATO nations to send additional troops to Afghanistan and allow their soldiers already there to fight in the violent south and under other dangerous circumstances.\n"When our commanders on the ground say to our respective countries 'We need additional help,' our NATO countries must provide it," Bush said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute. "As well, allies must lift restrictions on the forces they do provide so NATO commanders have the flexibility they need to defeat the enemy wherever the enemy may make its stand."\nBush said that listening to his request is not only an obligation nations make as part of NATO, but is also crucial to their own security.\n"The alliance was founded on this principle: An attack on one is an attack on all. That principle holds true whether the attack is on the home soil of a NATO nation or on allied forces deployed on a NATO mission abroad," he said. "By standing together in Afghanistan, NATO forces protect their own people."\nThe imbalance in Afghanistan has become a sore point among allies.\nTroops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have been doing most of the fighting and leaders of those countries have been lobbying the other 22 allied countries to do more. Countries such as Germany, for instance, don't allow their forces to deploy to the heart of the Taliban insurgency in the south and east.\nFighting in Afghanistan the past year was the bloodiest since the U.S.-led war started in 2001 and toppled the Taliban regime. Commanders anticipate a renewed offensive this spring by Taliban fighters trying to stage a comeback and topple the elected government in Kabul.\nSeveral countries have offered recently to provide additional support to the 35,500-strong NATO force, but it remains to be seen whether coalition commanders will get the troops, equipment and rules of engagement they say they need.\nThe Pentagon announced Wednesday that about 3,000 soldiers who had been scheduled to go to Iraq would be sent to Afghanistan instead. That puts the U.S. presence there at about 27,000 with 15,000 serving as part of the NATO-led force and another 12,000 special operations forces and trainers.\nThe president is asking Congress to provide $11.8 billion over the next two years for operations, military and otherwise, in Afghanistan.\nBush said the need for others nations to step up is great as spring comes, bringing an expected new offensive by the Taliban.