Defense Secretary Gates gets lukewarm response to plea for more allied troops in Afghanistan

(AP) Defense Secretary Robert Gates is getting a lukewarm response to his plea for NATO allies to send more troops and aid for a spring offensive in Afghanistan.

In his first meeting of NATO defense ministers, Gates said the U.S. made no additional commitments for more troops of its own. Gates recently extended the tour of a brigade in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has 27,000 troops _ the most since the war began in 2001.

U.S. and NATO military leaders in recent months have repeatedly called on alliance members to send reinforcements and lift restrictions on where their troops can serve. On Thursday, Gates secured smaller offers from some nations, but he met resistance from key allies.

France and Germany are questioning the wisdom of sending more soldiers, while Spain, Italy and Turkey have also been wary of providing more troops.

"When the Russians were in Afghanistan, they had 100,000 soldiers there and they did not win," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters.

The meeting in southern Spain produced some offers.

Lithuania, which already has 130 troops in Afghanistan, offered to send an unspecified number of special forces, helping to fill a key shortfall.

Germany says it will provide six Tornado reconnaissance jets but not significantly augment its 3,000 troops in the north. The Italian government said it would send a much-needed transport plane and some unmanned surveillance aircraft, but it is struggling to secure parliamentary backing for the finances needed to maintain a contingent of 1,950.

Spain also said it would send four unmanned planes and more instructors to help the Afghan army.

Gates said that after nearly five years at war with the Taliban, this spring will be critical because it could give the people of the country more hope.

"Each spring for the last several years, the Taliban have been more aggressive and there has been an increasing level of violence," he said. "There is a consensus on the part of the ministers that it is important that this year we knock the Taliban back."

NATO's new top commander, U.S. Gen. John Craddock, presented ministers with a plan to "rebalance" the force of 35,000, using more mobile combat units in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan where combat is expected to be most intense.

Allied officials said Craddock was seeking 1,500 to 2,000 extra combat troops in addition to the extra brigade provided by the U.S. and about 800 more from the British. They said he is asking for a couple of combat battalions and some support forces.

The end of winter has traditionally brought an upsurge in attacks by Taliban militants in Afghanistan. U.S. commanders have already predicted that this spring will be even more violent than last year, when a record number of attacks included nearly 140 suicide bombings.

About 15,000 of the American troops are serving in the NATO-led force, which now totals about 36,000, while the other 12,000 are special operations forces or are training Afghan troops.

The call for a spring offensive comes just three weeks after Gates made his first trip to Afghanistan, which was followed quickly by his decision to increase U.S. troop levels there by several thousand. He ordered a brigade _ or about 3,200 soldiers _ from the New York-based 10th Mountain Division to extend their tour in Afghanistan by four months.

Gates, who took over the job in late December after the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld, is spending two days at the NATO meeting, then goes to Munich for the annual security conference.

Gates met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, and said he has agreed to accept Ivanov's invitation to visit Russia. Gates declined to discuss details of the meeting.

In the past, the Russians have criticized U.S. plans to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile interceptor site in Poland. The U.S. has offered assurances that the installations would be meant to deal with a potential threat from Iran.

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