NATO ups Afghan troop numbers, but falls short on trainers

Brussels- NATO members and allies have pledged more than 5,000 extra troops for the alliance's Afghan mission in the last 24 hours, but fall short on promises of trainers to help develop Afghan forces, officials in Brussels said Thursday. The announcement came after the United States on Tuesday set out plans to send 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan.

The pledge of at least 5,000 extra troops marks the determination of NATO's other members to support that move, but lays bare the difficulties the alliance is facing in preparing for its own departure from the country by training Afghan forces to stand alone.

"Based on what we have heard just in the last 24 hours, I think we can confidently say that we will surpass that number. We are beyond the 5,000 figure," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told journalists at the alliance's Brussels headquarters.

But at the same time, "we have significant shortfalls when it comes to trainers for the army and trainers for the police," he said.

NATO currently has some 83,500 troops serving with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, according to ISAF spokesman General Eric Tremblay.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama announced plans to boost the US ISAF contingent by 30,000 men, sparking a flurry of pledges from other NATO members and allies to reinforce their own contingents.

Britain is expected to send another 500 men, Poland 600, Spain 200 and the Czech Republic 100, while non-member Georgia is set to send up to 1,000 troops. Around 20 countries have pledged reinforcements, Appathurai said.

But the alliance remains critically short of experts to train the Afghan police and army - missions which NATO leaders see as vital to allow the Afghans to take control of their own security and for Western troops to go home.

ISAF currently has 62 out of the 103 army training teams it needs, and just 16 out of 180 police training teams, Tremblay said.

"Unless we can fully resource the training mission in Afghanistan, it will be harder to make transition a reality in the time frames which we are envisaging," Appathurai stressed.

NATO and ISAF foreign ministers were set to discuss the mission on Thursday and Friday.