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The United States would urge NATO European allies to send more troops to southern Afghanistan at the request of Canada, Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Defense Department Spokesman Geoff Morrell said although a number of allies provided forces to fight with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, the U.S. still hope they can "see to it to dig deeper and find additional forces to help this effort."
The Pentagon made such an appeal after Canadian government threatened to withdraw the country's 2,500 troops from southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar early next year if NATO will not send 1,000 troops as reinforcement.
However, when asked whether the Unite States is willing to fill the gap of the troops in the Canadian-based area, Morrell said "we 've done, as I made clear, what we can do."
President George W. Bush announced on Monday night in his last State of the Union that the U.S. would deploy additional 3,200 troops to Afghanistan, including 2,200 to the violent south to counter Taliban militants.
Currently, the U.S. has 29,000 troops in Afghanistan, half of whom are part of a 40,000-strong NATO force. |
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