Nato short of troops

NATO countries have still not agreed how many extra troops they will send to Afghanistan to boost local forces in their fight against the resurgent Taliban, the alliance’s chief admitted yesterday.

Nato said this week it wanted to send about 3 000 extra troops to Afghanistan, bringing the Western military footprint up to about 16 000 soldiers to help in the fight against the Taliban.

But after talks with the alliance’s 29 defence ministers in Brussels, secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged there were still gaps in the roster that needed to be filled.

“We are now in the process of increasing the troop level,” Stoltenberg said.

Washington has asked Nato allies to contribute 1 000 extra troops for Afghanistan, to add to 2 800 US forces, but diplomatic sources say they may have to be content with just 700.