Jul 08
3
Vancouver Sun |
Obama would press Europe for more Afghan troops
AFP - 14 hours ago
Rice also said that Obama's plans to begin withdrawals of US troops from combat operations in Iraq would permit the United States to send more soldiers to ...
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Barack Obama will press European NATO partners for more troops for Afghanistan and to ease operational restrictions on those already there if he is elected president, a foreign policy aide said Thursday. The Democratic presidential candidate is likely to discuss his plans to refocus US military efforts from Iraq to the battle against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan when he visits top European powers later this month. "Senator Obama has been very clear that he believes that our NATO partners can and should contribute some additional forces," said Obama's foreign policy advisor Susan Rice on a conference call with reporters. The Illinois senator also believes that NATO members should remove operational curbs which prevent some of their forces from operating in the hottest combat zones in Afghanistan, Rice said. Rice also said that Obama's plans to begin withdrawals of US troops from combat operations in Iraq would permit the United States to send more soldiers to Afghanistan, and could prompt action from European partners. "He also thinks that by the United States committing to putting additional military resources of our own into Afghanistan, we are in a position to make that case more effectively to the Europeans," Rice said. Obama's before-the-fact opposition to the invasion of Iraq might also increase his leverage, Rice said. "A president who is not in agreement with the decision to go to war in Iraq, which was so unpopular in Europe ... will be a president who is more likely to be able to gain a more robust European commitment." An apparently worsening security situation in Afghanistan has seen troop deaths there exceed those in Iraq for the second month in a row. Forty-nine soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the separate US-led coalition died in combat, attacks or accidents in June, according to an AFP tally based on military statements. By contrast, 31 soldiers including 29 Americans, were killed in Iraq in June despite the fact that there are more than twice as many troops there as in Afghanistan, icasualties.org figures showed. The US Marines said on Monday that the stay of 2,200 of its men in Afghanistan had been extended by one month until November.
