Intense deliberations are under way between the United States and its allies regarding the future of Afghanistan as the Obama administration continues its protracted strategic review of the war, the Nato chief said Friday. Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said all 43 nations contributing troops to the 107,000-strong force in Afghanistan are taking part in the talks.
"We are engaged in an intense process among allies and all ISAF nations on the way forward in Afghanistan," Fogh Rasmussen said after meeting Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. On Thursday, senior White House and Pentagon officials briefed Nato members on the progress of the debate in Washington. Officials say the US delegation - led by Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy - came in "a listening mode" to seek the views of allied nations on the escalating conflict.
The talks "continued a series of multilateral discussions contributing to the President's assessment of how best to support the core goal of disrupting, dismantling and ultimately defeating al Qaeda," said a statement released by the US mission to Nato. Stanley McChrystal, the Nato and US commander in Afghanistan, is calling for tens of thousands more US and allied troops as the Afghan war drags into its ninth year.
But public opinion polls show growing opposition to sending more soldiers at a time of economic crisis, shrinking defence budgets and increasing disillusionment with the progress of war. A Nato official said Thursday's talks did not deal with any requests for troops, a subject expected to be discussed at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers next month.
"The truth is, this was not some kind of force-pledging conference," said the official who asked not to be named under standing regulations. "It's a matter of weeks before the US adopts the new strategy and Washington is very keen to get the views of the allies in order to inform its own debate."
The latest consultations came as a top Nato general said he feared that waning public support for the war could undermine allied efforts to stabilise the graft-ridden government of President Hamid Karzai. "The clock in Afghanistan is clearly running against us," said German General Egon Ramms, whose Allied Joint Forces Command oversees Nato's force in Afghanistan.
"In the end, politicians will not go against their public opinion." Ramms, who spoke to reporters late Thursday, also said that UN plans to withdraw some of its staff from Afghanistan would hamper efforts toward reconstruction that form an essential element in the allied strategy to pacify the country. Nato spokesman James Appathurai took issue with Ramms' comments. "General Ramms does not speak for Nato. Those are his personal views," Appathurai said on Friday.