NATO Considers How to Raise Forces Faster
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Struggling to muster more troops for Afghanistan and take on an expanded training mission in Iraq, NATO defense ministers will aim this week to advance reforms that would let the alliance mobilize faster for far-flung operations.
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NOORDWIJK, Netherlands  - NATO defense ministers agreed on Thursday to scale down the alliance's ambition to keep a 25,000-strong rapid reaction force on standby, ready to intervene in crises around the world.
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NATO nations faced renewed calls on   Friday to supply extra troops for Afghanistan, with commanders   stressing a Polish offer of 1,000 soldiers next year did not   plug the shortfalls.
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NATO allies must fulfill their   commitment to the future stability of Afghanistan by   dispatching more troops to fight insurgents, Washington's   ambassador to the alliance said on Wednesday.
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NATO military chiefs were set to wrap up a first meeting on Afghanistan amid urgent calls to boost their deployment in the south of the country where they have been surprised by the ferocity of the Taliban resistance.
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NICE, France  - NATO announced it was ready to  launch a long-delayed westward expansion of peacekeeping duties  in Afghanistan on Thursday but said it was still short of staff  for an officer training mission in Iraq.
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NATO generals struggled Wednesday to persuade allies to provide an extra 2,000 troops urgently sought by commanders because of the ferocity of Taliban resistance to the alliance push into southern Afghanistan.
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Nato's secretary general says a number of members have offered more military resources for Afghanistan.
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Almost a week into its biggest offensive   against the Taliban, NATO says it has cornered a large group of   fighters and killed about 300, but still needs more troops and   aircraft to finish the job.
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A tough mission in Afghanistan will dominate a NATO summit this week but few results are likely and a united Western approach to global security threats may have to await a new generation of leaders, analysts say.
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SEVILLE, Spain  - The United States raised pressure on NATO allies on Thursday to rush more troops to Afghanistan to crush an expected Taliban offensive, saying the coming weeks would be key in battling the insurgency.
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NATO's top diplomat urged allied foreign ministers Thursday to boost their commitment to Afghanistan and Iraq, where the 26 allies are struggling to muster hundreds of troops needed to expand training or peacekeeping missions.
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All 26 NATO nations have soldiers in Afghanistan and all agree the mission is their top priority. But the refusal of European allies to send more combat troops is forcing an already stretched U.S. military to fill the gap, and straining the Western alliance.
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In American military parlance, it's gut-check time for NATO in Afghanistan, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears ready to answer allies' calls for more forces to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda
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NATO members need to do more to boost   their force in Afghanistan in the growing battle against   Taliban fighters despite significant pledges of more troops,   the alliance's secretary-general said on Thursday.
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Nato ministers under multiple pressures to provide troops order a rapid reaction force to be scaled down.
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NATO defense ministers pledged today to speed the deployment of 300 trainers to Iraq by the end of the year, a program intended to field more Iraqi security