Allies spurn Trump’s call for more troops

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European Nato allies called on by Donald Trump to commit more troops to Afghanistan appeared to shy away from the request last night. Germany and Britain said they had no plans to increase their numbers in the wake of the US president’s decision to send 4,000 more troops to the conflict.

By Ben Farmer DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT

Henry Samuel in Paris

and Justin Huggler in Berlin

EUROPEAN Nato members last night appeared to shun Donald Trump’s demand they follow in the footsteps of the US and send extra troops to Afghanistan.

Germany said it had no plans to send more troops to the long-running conflict and Britain said it would not go beyond an uplift already promised earlier this year. France said no decision had been taken, but one French military expert said he would be “astonished” if Paris agreed to go back to Afghanistan. Spain and Italy’s governments both declined to comment.

Mr Trump is expected to send up to 4,000 more US troops after he abandoned plans on Monday night for a swift withdrawal from the country and instead made an open-ended commitment to America’s longest ever war.

In an about-face on a conflict he once called futile, Mr Trump said US troops would “fight to win”.

“We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists,” he said in a prime-time televised address. “The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable,” he said. “A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including Isis and al Qaeda, would instantly fill.”

The reinforcements to train and advise the struggling Afghan forces come on top of around 8,400 already deployed. US commanders earlier this year warned they were at a stalemate and Jim Mattis, the defence secretary, admitted the US was “not winning”. A string of districts have since fallen to Taliban-led insurgents.

The president also demanded that Pakistan does more to tackle terrorist “safe havens”.

Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, last night said the US could consider punishing Pakistan or cutting off its status as a major non-nato ally if it doesn’t crack down on the Taliban and other extremist groups. Mr Trump’s top diplomat says those and other options are “on the table” if Pakistan is unwilling to change its posture.

Mr Trump also warned the Afghan government that it should not view US support as a “blank cheque”.

“America will work with the Afghan government as long as we see determi- nation and progress,” he said. “However, our commitment is not unlimited.”

America’s Nato allies also had to do more, the president continued. “We will ask our Nato allies and global partners to support our new strategy, with additional troop and funding increases in line with our own. We are confident they will.”

European allies appeared to push back against his request however. The German defence minister said her country, which has 950 troops in Afghanistan, would not be among the first nations to contribute more.

The Ministry of Defence in London said it had already announced in June that 85 more soldiers would be sent, bringing the UK detachment to 600. A Whitehall source said: “We don’t see that number changing”.

Jean-dominique Merchet, a French defence expert, said: “I would be astonished if France was prepared to send troops back to Afghanistan.”

Mr Trump’s decision to remain in Afghanistan risked angering supporters who voted for his “America First” campaign to end US foreign interventions. ♦ Syrian state media and activists say dozens of civilians have been killed in air strikes on the city of Raqqa.

Us-backed Syrian opposition fighters have been trying to capture the city from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighters since June 6, and have been marching under the cover of air strikes by the Us-led coalition.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday that air strikes on Raqqa the day before killed 42 civilians including 19 children and 12 women.

Donald Trump’s announcement that 4,000 additional American troops are being sent to Afghanistan came as a surprise from a president who campaigned for office on an isolationist platform. His “instincts” had been to withdraw all American forces, but he has been persuaded to take a stand against terrorist groups that might use the country’s lawless spaces to regroup. Isil fighters have been making incursions into Afghanistan and President Trump said US forces would stop them in their tracks. He also pledged to confront the Taliban, which has retaken some of the territory it lost during the long Nato engagement that cost America – and Britain – a good deal in blood and treasure.

If Mr Trump’s action is limited to bolstering the effectiveness of Afghan forces to face down Isil and what is left of al-qaeda, then it can be welcomed. We saw what happened the last time the Islamists were able to establish a base in Afghanistan. The President is adamant that America is not engaged in “nation-building” but in protecting itself. Yet renewed operations against the Taliban would be a different proposition. Even with the additional 4,000 troops, the American presence would only be 12,000. How could they accomplish what 140,000 US and allied troops failed to achieve at the height of the Nato engagement?

Mr Trump has asked Nato allies such as Britain to follow suit, however we trust Theresa May will politely decline the invitation. A group of 85 British military advisers has already been pledged to boost the 500-strong UK training contingent still there. But the UK has effectively ended its combat role in Afghanistan. It should stay that way.