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European leaders were quick to offer verbal support on Wednesday for Obama's Afghanistan strategy, but not in a hurry to commit new troops to an uncertain and deadly military invasion.
The Taliban also vowed on Wednesday to step up resistance and fight against the extra 30,000 American troops US President Barack Obama has ordered to Afghanistan, a spokesman said.
Britain was first, promising to send 500 extra soldiers even before Obama made his long-awaited policy speech on Tuesday in which he said he would send 30,000 more American troops.
The new deployment will take the number of American troops in the war zone to 98,000, while Britain, the number two, will boost its contingent to about 10,000.
U.S. officials have said Washington is seeking 5,000 to 7,000 more troops from allies. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he expected non-U.S. participants in the NATO-led Afghan invasion to provide at least 5,000 extra troops.
But the response from continental Europe was cautious while placating their own voters, who are increasingly opposed against the Afghan war.
"Europe reluctant to more troops"
Germany, the third-biggest, with 4,400 troops in Afghanistan, signaled that it stood ready to do more police training but could not commit more troops before a strategy review early next year.
"(Obama) also took his time to work out the speech and his strategy and we will take our own time to assess what he said and discuss this with our allies," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
"We Germans are ready to do more in the area of police training, because that is the only route to self-sufficient security, to a handover of responsibilities," he said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy also said France would look at its contribution to international strategy, giving priority to the training of Afghan security forces.
France, the fourth-biggest, with 3,750 soldiers in the region, said he would review his position after a meeting of NATO countries this week and a U.N.-sponsored conference in London on Jan. 28.
In Rome, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy would send "more troops", but declined to give numbers or a timetable.
"France gave an uncertain response, Germany is taking its time and Britain will perhaps give a minimal contribution," Frattini said. Italy has 2,795 troops in Afghanistan.
In Warsaw, the defense ministry said the Polish government would like to send an extra 600 soldiers to Afghanistan but warned that the plan was subject to approval by the president.
Poland has 2,000 troops there and President Lech Kaczynski may approve any request to increase that number.
"More coffins"
The Afghan Taliban said on Wednesday that Obama's plan to send tens of thousands of extra troops to the country would not work and would only strengthen their fight.
"Obama will witness lots of coffins heading to America from Afghanistan," spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahamdi told media by telephone from an unknown location.
"Their hope to control Afghanistan by military means will not become reality. The extra 30,000 troops that will come to Afghanistan will provoke stronger resistance and fighting," he added.
"They will withdraw shamefully. They cannot achieve their hopes and goals," the spokesman said.
Less troops
The new US deployment also fell short of a recommendation made by Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, who had asked for 40,000 troops made in August.
The head of NATO said he expects allies to provide at least 5,000 troops for Afghanistan and possibly a few thousand more after President Barack Obama announced a big increase in U.S. forces for the country.
"There are 43 countries on the ground under NATO command and I am confident that other allies and partners will also make a substantial increase in their contributions," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement after Obama's announcement.
"I expect at least 5,000 more forces from other countries in our alliance and possibly a few thousand more," the NATO secretary-general said in the video message.
However, the figures mentioned by Rasmussen fall short of the 10,000 troops and trainers that Pentagon officials had hoped allies would send to supplement the U.S. buildup.
Some diplomats and analysts said the actual number of additional forces could be even lower as some countries might present troops that were deployed for August elections in Afghanistan as reinforcements.
Troop increases will be discussed at a NATO foreign ministers' meeting this week and at a military conference on Monday.
There are about 110,000 foreign troops invading Afghanistan, anchored by a 68,000-strong U.S. force.
PHOTO CAPTION
U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, right, speaks to Afghan military officers following a briefing with coalition officers at the Kandahar Airfield, southern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009.
Agencies
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