Europe may cut military role in Afghanistan
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The United States is worried about weakening Italian and German military commitments in Afghanistan as casualties increase in the fight to stem the bloody Taliban insurgency, officials said.
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NATO risks a split between countries that are willing to fight and those that are not because some European states refuse to send more troops to Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.
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US Defense Secretary Robert Gates rallied European support for operations in Afghanistan as backing from key ally Poland appeared threatened by a change of government after elections.
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European Union experts will from next  month start training police forces across Afghanistan,  including southern provinces which have borne the brunt of  insurgent violence, EU officials said on Tuesday.
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President Bush is expected to  announce on Monday the withdrawal of about 70,000 troops from  Europe and Asia in a major realignment of the U.S. military  presence to better fight the war on terrorism.
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POIANA BRASOV, Romania, Oct 13  - The United States persuaded its NATO allies Wednesday to consider ways to merge Alliance-run and US-led forces in Afghanistan, despite deep reservations notably from Germany and France.
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US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned Sunday that the failure of the international force in Afghanistan would increase the security threat to Europe.
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Leading European NATO members were set   to tell military commanders on Wednesday they cannot provide   reinforcements to help quell an insurgency in southern   Afghanistan, alliance sources said.
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The United States said it expected European countries to come up with offers of help in Iraq and Afghanistan at a NATO meeting on Thursday to discuss the alliance's role in the insurgency-hit countries.
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Eurocorps, the core of what could someday become a European army, has taken over command of NATO's peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan.
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PORTOROZ, Slovenia  - NATO states will probably   offer more troops and equipment to meet shortfalls in   Afghanistan when their defense ministers meet on Thursday, but   holes will remain, a U.S. government official said on   Wednesday.
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Continuing violence and economic instability could lead to social breakdown in Afghanistan if military strategy does not change, according to former Nato commander
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The British-led NATO force in Afghanistan does not have enough troops to carry out its mission and the Taliban show worrying signs of growing stronger, a report by Britain's parliament has found.
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Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said that Europeâs security is directly tied to NATOâs success in Afghanistan.
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Europe should deploy more troops to the dangerous southern regions of Afghanistan, Australia's foreign minister said Friday, as the country mourned its second soldier killed there in three weeks.
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The European Union agreed on Monday to  send a mission to help train local police in Afghanistan, whose  government is struggling with an Islamist insurgency.
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"We must take into account that there will be more violent assaults once winter is over with the additional goal of killing civilians via suicide attacks"  By Markus WacketBERLIN  - Germany rejected on Friday a call from the United States to send combat soldiers to dangerous parts of southern Afghanistan and said there were no plans to change its deployment in the less violent north.Following a strongly worded letter from U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said he did not envisage a change to the mandate allowing Germany to send 3,500 troops to northern Afghanistan."We have agreed on a clear division of labor," Jung told reporters on Friday. "I think that we really must keep our focus on the North." Read more