WASHINGTON - The United States shied away from a call by NATO to send thousands more of its stretched military personnel to train Afghanistan's police and army, in comments released Friday.
"Quite frankly, we're having trouble, and probably two thirds of those (forces requested) are for the police," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said after a NATO meeting in Canada, in comments released by the Defense Department.
"So one of the things we talked about (at the meeting) was approaching other Europeans about filling some of those positions, because it's training jobs and they have some real expertise in that area."
Ministers and envoys from eight NATO allies meeting in Quebec on Thursday agreed to bolster cooperation in Afghanistan ahead of an expected spring offensive by resurgent fighters loyal to the ousted Taliban regime.
The meeting did not discuss sending more forces to join the 37,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), but Gates later revealed that commanders asked the US to fill "about 3,400 training positions."
The US military is already looking stretched, having started a "surge" of troops to boost its presence in Iraq. Gates said Wednesday that army soldiers' tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan would be extended from 12 to 15 months.
ISAF is trying to stabilize the war-torn country which has seen an upsurge in attacks by the Taliban, ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.
04/13/2007 23:14 GMT