NATO Reinforcements to Afghanistan

NATO's commitment to the Afghan surge is coming into focus.

Poland will contribute 600 combat-ready reinforcements to Afghanistan, its foreign minister said on Friday, with an additional 400 on standby, whilst France, Germany and the Netherlands are believed to be holding off on a final decision until an international conference next month.

Poland's decision, which still requires the government's and president's approval, was in response to calls for help by US President Barack Obama's administration, said Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday some two dozen countries will send an estimated 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan next year, as US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told her allied counterparts that an infusion of forces is crucial to turning the tide in the long war.

"Extra six hundred in the theater and four hundred on standby at short notice. And that means out of the 43 ISAF nations, Poland will have the seventh largest contingent in Afghanistan," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in Brussels.

The reinforcements will be aimed mainly for patrolling and training to beef up its existing 2,000-strong contingent there. It is considered by some to be a hefty and costly contribution for a country of Poland's size.

Meanwhile, the prospect of more German troops appeared slim and the Dutch, who have been planning a complete withdrawal, said they had yet to make any decision.


The Netherlands, currently the seventh-largest force in Afghanistan, has 1, 600 troops in restive southern Afghanistan who are due to leave next August.

The Dutch parliament has passed a non-binding motion saying it does not support extending the mission. 'They understand that we have yet to make a decision and that we cannot not make any announcements,' foreign minister Maxime Verhagen said on Friday. 'The Netherlands will independently weigh all arguments and make our own decision,' he said.

Britain, France and Germany are holding off on new troop pledges, waiting for the Afghanistan conference in London on January 28. On Thursday, Germany's parliament voted to keep up to 4,500 troops in Afghanistan through December 2010. More than 4,400 German troops are currently based in Afghanistan's relatively stable north.

By: Brant