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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (754953)	11/26/2006 10:08:36 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

France may join Afghan front line Nicola Smith The Sunday Times November 26, 2006 timesonline.co.uk FRENCH and German troops who have been kept away from the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan could be used as emergency reinforcements for British, American and Canadian soldiers bearing the brunt of the war against the Taliban. A Nato summit this week in Riga, the capital of Latvia, is expected to agree greater flexibility for commanders to call on coalition allies for frontline support. British officers have described how military police and engineers have had to fend off Taliban attacks while well trained coalition troops remain far away in Kabul and the relatively peaceful north. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s secretary-general, is urging all nations to lift the restrictions imposed on where their troops can be stationed. There has been a sharp disparity within Nato between European allies that have sought to minimise their casualties and concentrate on reconstruction, and Britain, Canada and the United States, which are committed to defeating the Taliban. The Americans said: “We want all forces to be available to commanders on the ground. We can’t have forces who don’t go to certain places and do certain things.” Germany, in particular, has come under criticism over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s insistence that German troops should remain in the north, although her government will now permit units to be sent for emergency short-term missions elsewhere in the country. French troops are also likely to show more flexibility. An official pledged that if there were real danger they would help Nato allies in the south.