(NSI News Source Info) MADRID - March 11, 2009: The European Union has ruled out sending more troops to Afghanistan but is willing to do more to help stabilize the country in other ways, the bloc's foreign police chief Javier Solana said Tuesday. 
Spanish soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol the streets of Herat, western Afghanistan. The Taliban has threatened to stage attacks on five Western nations deploying troops in Afghanistan in a video discovered by Spanish security forces, a local radio station said today. The United States, Spain, France, Denmark, Australia and Israel are said to receive warnings in the 42-minute video, reported news radio station Cadena Ser.
"EU countries in principle do not think they will increase the number of their troops which they want to deploy in Afghanistan," the former Spanish foreign minister told public radio RNE.
"The situation in Afghanistan is not going to be resolved only militarily. There are many things that can be done in Afghanistan that are not exclusively increasing the number of troops," he added.
Civilian reconstruction, providing assistance during elections in Afghanistan set for August and improving relations between Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan were examples of areas where Solana said the EU could provide aid.
His comments come as US Vice President Joe Biden met NATO allies in Brussels to seek concrete European help as Washington builds a new strategy to confront the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
There are nearly 70,000 foreign troops under NATO and US command in Afghanistan fighting a Taliban insurgency alongside Afghan forces.
President Obama has ordered 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan and a top-to-bottom review of his war policy, shifting the focus from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the fight against Islamic militants.
Spanish soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol the streets of Herat, western Afghanistan. The Taliban has threatened to stage attacks on five Western nations deploying troops in Afghanistan in a video discovered by Spanish security forces, a local radio station said today. The United States, Spain, France, Denmark, Australia and Israel are said to receive warnings in the 42-minute video, reported news radio station Cadena Ser.
"EU countries in principle do not think they will increase the number of their troops which they want to deploy in Afghanistan," the former Spanish foreign minister told public radio RNE.
"The situation in Afghanistan is not going to be resolved only militarily. There are many things that can be done in Afghanistan that are not exclusively increasing the number of troops," he added.
Civilian reconstruction, providing assistance during elections in Afghanistan set for August and improving relations between Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan were examples of areas where Solana said the EU could provide aid.
His comments come as US Vice President Joe Biden met NATO allies in Brussels to seek concrete European help as Washington builds a new strategy to confront the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
There are nearly 70,000 foreign troops under NATO and US command in Afghanistan fighting a Taliban insurgency alongside Afghan forces.
President Obama has ordered 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan and a top-to-bottom review of his war policy, shifting the focus from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the fight against Islamic militants.
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