NATO stresses commitment to Afghanistan
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NATO leaders pledged at the end of a summit Wednesday to stay the course in Afghanistan despite mounting casualties and some governments' refusal to send troops into combat in the most dangerous regions.
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MONS, Belgium  - NATO's top operational commander said on Wednesday its force in Afghanistan faced troop shortages and diplomats doubted whether an alliance summit next week would plug the gaps.
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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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Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan is &quot;absolutely critical&quot; for world security, as the military alliance expanded its role there.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday he is confident NATO nations will provide sufficient peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan, though it may take some prodding.
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NATO will assume responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan from Thursday, when it takes command in the east from U.S.-led coalition forces, a senior NATO official said on Tuesday.
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates  told Europe on Sunday it must boost defense spending and commit  more troops and money to Afghanistan if NATO is to remain a  potent military alliance.
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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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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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NICE, France -- NATO and the United States said yesterday that they would merge their separate missions in Afghanistan, giving NATO command of an operation that for the first time will combine counterterrorism and peacekeeping activities.
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SEVILLE, Spain  - NATO's top operational commander will urge the alliance on Thursday to step up efforts to crush an expected Taliban offensive in Afghanistan but many allies remain reluctant to come forward, officials said.
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) reinforced its security forces in Afghanistan Friday as part of international efforts to safeguard the presidential election on October 9.
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NATO will hold two more conferences aimed at pushing member states to commit more troops to the alliance's mission in Afghanistan as it faces tough resistance from insurgents there, a spokesman said Saturday.
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai plays down tensions over the role of Nato powers operating in his country.
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Western nations must do more to  crack down on the drug trade and corruption in Afghanistan,  NATO's commander said on Wednesday as the alliance prepared to  assume security duties for the whole country.
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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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BRUSSELS - Under intense pressure from Taliban insurgents based in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and short of the troops needed for victory, NATO again is pleading with member states to step up their commitments, casting the fight in Afghanistan as vital for global security.