Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked NATO allies Friday to consider increasing troop levels in Afghanistan next year during the elections, a move made for past votes in Iraq. Gates said there was no discussion of the number of forces needed, or who would provide them, but the increase would be temporary. "I just laid down a marker, that I thought we'd better think about that going forward," Gates told reporters traveling with him as he flew back to Washington from a NATO meeting in Hungary. The boost, he said, would "help the Afghans provide security so there can be a positive election." Gates was upbeat as he left the two-day meeting of defense ministers _ which was largely dominated by discussions about the Afghanistan war, and how to meet commanders' requirements for more troops, more equipment and greater combat flexibility to target drug lords who provide as much as $100 million to the Taliban and other militant groups. The war has taken a violent turn, as more insurgents cross the border from safe havens in Pakistan, and coalition troops press into volatile areas. U.S. troop deaths have increased, and there has been a spate of recent U.S. attacks that resulted in civilian casualties. Gates said that a number of defense ministers at the NATO meeting said they intend to increase their troop commitments to Afghanistan. Gates said some nations will divert forces from the increasingly more secure Iraq. The nations, he said, would provide badly needed trainers and liaison teams for the Afghan army. "I think there's really a broad understanding that ultimately it's the expansion of the Afghan security forces that is going to be everybody's ticket out of there," he said. "Whether it will be enough, I don't know." NATO allies also agreed to increase the number of active duty forces the nations are willing to deploy. Currently, 40 percent of the approximately 3.8 million forces available in the NATO member nations can be deployed, and the allies agreed to increase that to 50 percent. Of the 3.8 million total, about 1.4 million are U.S. forces. ___ On the Net: Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil |