U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says a only a small number of NATO countries have troops in the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan and that more allies need to share the combat burden.
Rice spoke to reporters traveling with her to London, where she is to meet Wednesday, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Talks are expected to focus on two nations' common goal of getting more NATO members to commit troops to enter the fight against a resurgent Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Last week, Germany, whose forces are deployed in relatively stable northern Afghanistan, spurned a call by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to send forces to the south.
Most of the fighting against the Taliban in the south is being done by troops from Canada, the U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands.
Canada has threatened to pull its troops out of Afghanistan next year unless other allies send reinforcements.
Germany has about 3,000 troops stationed in Kabul and in the north. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung has said a parliamentary mandate limits his nation's troop involvement to northern Afghanistan.
A recent report by a panel led by a former NATO commander, U.S. General James Jones, warned Afghanistan is in danger of becoming a "failed state" because of too few military forces and insufficient economic aid.
Source: By VOA News
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