NATO: Time not on our side in Afghanistan

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NATO: Time not on our side in Afghanistan
By Slobodan Lekic - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Oct 19, 2009 11:03:54 EDT

BRUSSELS — NATO’s 28 member states must quickly endorse Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s recommendation to send reinforcements to Afghanistan because time is not on the alliance’s side, its chief said Monday.

But Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he doesn’t expect NATO defense ministers to discuss such steps at their meeting this week in Bratislava, Slovakia. He said it “makes sense” to delay such decisions until the final results of Afghanistan’s disputed presidential elections are known.

“I hope that we will have a clarification of the political situation in Afghanistan, because time is not on our side,” he said.

“There is a need for rapid decisions (but) it’s important to stress that there is a strong need for the international community to have a credible and accountable government in Kabul to deal with.”

President Barack Obama’s administration is studying a set of recommendations by McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for thousands more troops to end the eight-year war and the escalating insurgency.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/ap_afghanistan_nato_time_101909/