Allied ministers push for help on Afghan frontline
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Allied defence ministers with troops on the front line in southern Afghanistan held talks Friday on how to fill gaps in forces and hammer out a strategy for the next half a decade.
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates will  press NATO allies this week for more troops and aid to relieve  shortfalls in Afghanistan as commanders prepare a spring  offensive against the Taliban, a senior U.S. defense official  said.
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Worsening security is pushing Afghanistan towards a crisis, the country's main opposition group said on Thursday, days after a deadly Taliban raid near the presidential palace.
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NATO allies were considering urgent calls to bolster the size of their force in Afghanistan, where Britain's senior commander described fighting as more ferocious than in Iraq.
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Defence Minister Des Browne has appealed to London's NATO allies to &quot;step up to the plate&quot; and boost their support for the military alliance's embattled mission in Afghanistan.
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Convincing Afghans to oppose the Taliban depends on fulfilling promises of aid and reconstruction.
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The United States is urging NATO allies to lift restrictions on the use of their forces in Afghanistan, casting it as matter of allied solidarity, a senior State Department official said.
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Britain called Thursday for more "burden-sharing" in Afghanistan where an international force is struggling against Taliban insurgents.
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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 defense ministers agreed Thursday on an expansion of the alliance's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and will send troops into the western parts of the country, the alliance's top official said.
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked NATO allies and colleagues for more effort in Afghanistan, but it is too early to tell whether his lobbying will pay off.
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that NATO allies must provide the troops and equipment needed to battle an expected increase in violence by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan this spring.
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NATO's top operational commander wants more troops to help crush an expected Taliban offensive in Afghanistan but is facing widespread reluctance among allies to come forward, alliance officials said on Tuesday.
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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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U.S. defense and foreign policy chiefs face an uphill fight this week trying to get its allies in Canada and Europe to boost NATO forces and coordinate efforts in Afghanistan in the face of rising Taliban attacks.
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NATO defence ministers were set Friday for a second day of contentious talks on Afghanistan amid calls led by the United States and Britain for more frontline combat troops to fight resurgent Taliban forces.
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NATO defense ministers were under pressure Thursday to find more troops for the alliance mission in Afghanistan ahead of an expected surge in fighting with the Taliban when the snow melts this spring.