President Barack Obama”s national security adviser predicted NATO allies heading to a summit on Friday will send extra troops to Afghanistan and hailed a “new spirit” of cooperation with Washington.
General James Jones also said the summit in Strasbourg should try to turn the 60-year-old alliance into a 21st century one that is not only more agile and more rapid in carrying out missions but also prevents conflicts.
Jones, speaking to reporters Thursday in a conference call from the G20 summit in London, expected “there will be additional troop contributions” as the allies consider reinforcements ahead of Afghan elections in August.
He denied a reporter”s suggestion that Obama”s new strategy — unveiled in Washington on Friday — focused on sending 4,000 US troops to train Afghan forces because he feared the allies would hold back on contributions.
“There are some things at work here that really are in real time,” General Jones told reporters who joined the call with him and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while they accompanied Obama to the Group of 20 summit of major developed and developing nations.
“It would be wrong to conclude that we will not get any contributions, either manpower or resources, because I think that”s not going to be the case,” he said.
Under the new US strategy, the pillars of security, reconstruction and governance will “be fused more effectively, province by province, around the country,” he added.
