US: Allies should do more in Afghanistan

The US administration has requested its NATO allies to beef up the number of their troops in Afghanistan prior to the country's elections. 

"The administration is prepared ... to make additional commitments to Afghanistan, but there clearly will be expectations that the allies must do more as well," said US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Wednesday. 

He added that the response to the US request has so far been 'frankly disappointing'. 

The US appeal comes while US President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of 17,000 more forces to Afghanistan. This will bring the number of US forces to 55,000 in the war-torn country. 

Obama has ordered a senior-level Afghanistan strategy review. 

"This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction, and resources it urgently requires," Obama said in a written statement. 

Gates speaking to reporters on his way to Krakow, Poland for a meeting of NATO defense ministers, said the surge is needed to help provide security for the country's presidential and provincial elections, scheduled for August. 

He expressed disappointment over the commitment of NATO allies, noting that in the long term the allies are more likely to provide civilian help to the Afghan government than additional troops. 

According to the US Secretary of Defense, the dispatch of military units to Afghanistan will result in a reduction of the US troop presence in Iraq, because some of the units being sent to Afghanistan had been scheduled for Iraq deployment.