Reply #2: If it's a 'world' concern

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Why is the U.S. force the overwhelmingly largest one and doesn't have Chinese troops* there (despite the fact they're neighbors)? At any rate, the international troops aren't in any hurry to escalate their own forces along with the U.S.. Some key allies are pulling out (Canada and Poland) and the negative politics in Britain (arguably our closest ally) is threatening their commitment as well.

Also, some NATO allies may delay on Afghan troops . . .

Brussels -- As US President Barack Obama readies to send extra troops to Afghanistan, NATO cautioned Wednesday that a number of US allies could wait until next year before following suit with reinforcements.
http://europenews.dk/en/node/27890


And, more importantly, what about the contribution and commitment to the U.S. initiated and dominated mission in the country from the Afghans themselves?

WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (IPS) - One in every four combat soldiers quit the Afghan National Army (ANA) during the year ending in September, published data by the U.S. Defence Department and the Inspector General for Reconstruction in Afghanistan reveals.

That high rate of turnover in the ANA, driven by extremely high rates of desertion, spells trouble for the strategy that President Barack Obama has reportedly decided on, which is said to include the dispatch of thousands of additional U.S. military trainers in order to rapidly increase the size of the ANA.

The ANA has been touted by U.S. officials for years as a success story. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal called in his August 2009 strategy paper for increasing the ANA to 134,000 troops by October 2010 and eventually to 240,000.

But an administration source, who insisted on speaking without attribution because of the sensitivity of the subject, confirmed to IPS that 25 percent has been used as the turnover rate for the ANA in internal discussions, and that it is regarded by some officials as a serious problem . . .

read more: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49397


Coalition casualties:

Coalition deaths in Afghanistan by country

USA: 857*
UK: 235
Canada: 132*
Germany: 40
France: 36
Denmark: 30
Spain: 26
Italy: 22
Netherlands: 21
Poland: 15
Australia: 11
Romania: 11
Estonia: 6
Norway: 4
Czech Republic: 3
Latvia: 3
Hungary: 2
Portugal: 2
South Korea: 2
Sweden: 2
Turkey: 2
Belgium: 1
Finland: 1
Lithuania: 1

TOTAL: 1,465

edit* strike russian