NATO chief: 5000 more troops to Afghanistan

The NATO Secretary-General says European and other US allies will contribute an additional 5,000 troops to the international force in Afghanistan. The announcement came just hours after US President Barack Obama announced the deployment of 30,000 more US troops to the country.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary-General, said, "If we are to make Afghanistan and ourselves more secure, we must all do more. The United States has pursued a multi-lateral approach to this operation. We must now demonstrate that multi-lateralism delivers concrete results. We will stay as long as it takes to finish our job and our mission in Afghanistan will end when the Afghans are capable to secure and to run the country themselves."

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh  Rasmussen holds a news conference at the  Alliance headquarters in Brussels December 2, 2009. The head of NATO said he expects  allies to provide at least 5,000 troops  for Afghanistan and possibly a few thousand  more after President Barack Obama announced  a big increase in U.S. forces for the  country.REUTERS/Eric Vidal

Several countries have now announced they will send more troops to back the war against the Taliban. Poland says it will increase the number of soldiers by 600, bringing the total to 2,600 by next April. South Korea plans to send about 350 troops by next July while Spain is considering sending 200.

The Czech Republic says it will await parliamentary approval of a boost of 100 more soldiers. Meanwhile, Germany says it needs time to assess the situation in Afghanistan, adding that sending more troops in the current situation would be unwise. France also announced it would not increase its troops presence now.