NATO seeks more forces to avoid Afghan stalemate

Does it not sound funny when on one hand they are saying that they need more forces to combat the Islamic militants , and then on the other hand they want to simply hold what they have so they may start reconstruction and Development ???
A better Idea would be to get more forces in Afghanistan so that they can sweep the country of the filth known as the Taliban and Al Qaida , so that when they can rebuild the nimrods don't go Blowing it up !!!!

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO needs more troops in Afghanistan to be able to hold territory and avoid a stalemate in its battle against Islamist militants, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Wednesday.

"It's crystal clear that we need more forces in Afghanistan," he said when asked at a news conference if he expected calls on European countries to supply more troops when U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

"The classic counter-insurgency tactics ... require more forces in Afghanistan, simply to be able to hold territory to start with development and reconstruction," De Hoop Scheffer said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

"We do not have sufficient forces to make that happen at the moment. To prevent a stalemate situation where we are not losing, but also not winning, we need more forces."

....

De Hoop Scheffer said extra forces promised by the United States would be welcome but he also referred back to his earlier prediction that the next U.S. president could be expected to press European countries for additional troops.

"I come back to my (comment on) phones ringing in European capitals initiated in the Oval office. I think that has a message for European allies in it as well," he said.

Obama has pledged to send extra troops to Afghanistan, where the United States already has more than 30,000 soldiers.

NATO's operations commander General John Craddock said last month he hoped a renewed focus by the Obama administration on Afghanistan would encourage allies to commit more troops.

He said that despite a more than 70 percent increase in the size of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in the past two years -- it now stands at more than 51,000 -- insurgent activity had mounted.

A decision whether to send more than 20,000 extra U.S. troops to safeguard presidential polls next year is likely to be one of the first Obama faces when he becomes commander-in-chief.

Repeated U.S. calls for other NATO allies to send troops to the south, scene of the heaviest fighting against Taliban militants, have largely fallen on deaf ears and nations operating there say they are all but stretched to the limit.

Britain, which has around 8,500 troops, the second-biggest foreign force, has also urged other countries to make a bigger contribution. It said last month it wants to see what plans Obama has before deciding whether to send more.