Gates: U.S. will tone down appeals to NATO

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Gates: U.S. will tone down appeals to NATO
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 14, 2007 20:17:08 EST

EDINBURGH, Scotland — Shifting tactics, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that the Bush administration has decided to tone down its appeals to NATO allies for more troops and other aid in the fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

After two days of talks here with his counterparts from Britain, Canada and five other NATO countries whose troops are doing the bulk of the fighting in Afghanistan’s violent south, Gates said he would continue making the case for greater allied military assistance.

But he said he would be doing it differently, keeping in mind the “political realities” faced by some European governments whose people may see less reason to intervene in Afghanistan.

“We’re going to try to look at this more creatively than perhaps we have done in the past when we basically have just been hammering on to provide more,” Gates said in a post-meeting interview with a small group of reporters traveling with him from Washington.

He said there would be “brainstorming” for ideas on how to enable some NATO allies to contribute more. He cited, as an example, the possibility that an ally that has helicopters but insufficient resources to outfit them for the harsh environment of Afghanistan might get the money from another NATO country to upgrade the aircraft.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/ap_gates_nato_071214/