On Dec. 3, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived at a meeting
of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. The two-day meeting was convened to
discuss the alliance's strategy in Afghanistan, Middle East Newsline reported.
"I think you will see some pledges right now and some at a later stage,"
NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, referring to a conference on
Afghanistan in January 2010, said on Dec. 2. "Then you will see a buildup of
troops during 2010."
Officials said the United States has not specified the number of
additional troops requested from Ankara. Turkey, with the second largest
military in NATO, has a 750-member non-combat
contingent in Afghanistan.
The U.S. request came in wake of President Barack Obama's announcement
of a military surge of more than 30,000 troops in Afghanistan. Obama called
on NATO to join the surge as part of a strategy to stabilize Afghanistan to
enable a withdrawal in mid-2011.
So far, NATO has been working on a plan to send at least another 5,000
troops to Afghanistan, about half the number sought by Washington. The
United States has been the dominant partner in the NATO stabilization
campaign in Afghanistan, which contains more than 70,000 troops.
"We must all do more," Rasmussen said. "We must now demonstrate that
multilateralism produces results."
