Troops in Afghanistan: United States – 15,038, United Kingdom – 7,753, Germany – 3,155, Italy – 2,358, Canada – 1,730, Netherlands – 1,512, France – 1,292, Turkey – 1,219, Poland – 1,141, Australia – 892, Source: Nato

“the greatest threat to Afghanistans future is abandonment by the international community.”The Mayor” of Kabul: Mr. Karzai

“the mission in Afghanistan needed more troops and equipment, such as helicopters, … “too few of our allies have combat troops fighting the insurgents especially in the south.” Mr Boucher

Karzaiistan is shrinking and is confined to Kabul

ISAFistan is shrinking

Talibanistan is growing

The situation in Afghanistan is grim for NATO. They control a few of the provinces mostly in the North. Southern Afghanistan is fully under the control of the Taliban and Mulla Umar. They have now seeped into Waziristan and threaten Pakistani settled areas. However the mercenary splinter group in Wat has been decimated and Mr. Mehsud has been disowned by the main Tlaiban group. That Taliban want to concentrate on Afghanistan this spring America has recently sent 3000 new troops but these are not enough.

Japan withdrew forces in Nov 2007. Australia is withdrawing forces from Iraq and may also withdraw forces from Afghanistan, though no date has been set for the withdrawal. The Dutch are also in the same process. The UK is also under tremendous pressure at home to withdraw forces.

Mr. Gates the US Secretary of State wrote an urgent letter to NATO to ask the NATO forces to move south into “Talibanistan”. The Germens say “No Bid”. “We have agreed on a clear division of labor,” Jung told reporters on Friday. “I think that we really must keep our focus on the North.” Herr Jung-Germany

“ you have a little German Afghanistan in the north, an Italian Afghanistan in the west, Dutch Afghanistan in Uruzgan and a Canadian Afghanistan in Kandahar, and so on. Geographically NATO has been fractured, and also sectorally with equal ineffectiveness–like giving the justice sector totally to the Italians, counter-narcotics to the British, the police to Germans and anti-terrorism to the Americans. Daan Everts, former civilian representative of the NATO Secretary General in Kabul:

A frustrated Mr. Karazi has requested a dramatic increase in the troop level but the NATO response has been feeble.

There are 950 Australian troops (ADF) in Afghanistan. There is a new government in Australia and the new Prime Minister promised to withdraw troops.

• A National Command Element in Kabul;
• Reconstruction Task Force based in Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan Province as part of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Provincial Reconstruction Team;
• a Special Forces Task Group deployed to Oruzgan province as part of ISAF operations against insurgents;
• an RAAF air surveillance radar capability deployed at Kandahar Air Field; and
  a Chinook helicopter group based at Kandahar in Helmand province in support of ISAF operations, temporarily returned to Australia until April 2008.
   

The Canadian government is also under tremendous pressure to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. On the 5th of February, the Canadian Prime Minster Mr. Harper informed Mr. Sarkozi that Canada would withdraw her forces if NATO does not deploy at least another 1000 troops. Sarko the American had promised to join NATO, but now the old fissures are rising again. “What are we doing there?”,” What are we fighting for”

Canada informs UK about possible troops withdrawal, TORONTO: Prime Minister Stephen Harper stepped up pressure on his NATO allies Thursday, cautioning his British counterpart a day after issuing a similar warning to US President George W. Bush that Canada will end its military mission in Afghanistan if the alliance does not assume a greater role in the dangerous south.

Harper, under pressure to withdraw Canada’s 2,500 troops from Afghanistan, spoke to Gordon Brown about an independent Canadian panel recommendation to extend the mission only if another NATO country musters 1,000 troops for Kandahar, said his spokesman, Michael Aubie. Harper conveyed the same message to Bush on Wednesday during a phone call.

Canadians have grown increasingly weary of the conflict in Afghanistan, which has claimed the lives of 78 of their troops and one diplomat. Opposition parties have threatened to bring down Harper’s minority government if he does not withdraw the forces. The mission is set to expire in 2009 without an extension by Canadian lawmaker.

The refusal of some major European allies to send significant number of troops to the southern front lines has opened a rift within NATO.

Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have borne the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region, with support from Denmark, Romania, Estonia and non-NATO nation Australia.

“Canada should remain in Afghanistan beyond February 2009, but only if NATO Allies supply additional combat troops for Kandahar Province and our troops have additional equipment. Without that, Canada’s mission will end in a year’s time,” Aubie said in a statement detailing the conversation.

The two leaders decided to pursue the issue further in the coming weeks as Harper talks to other NATO leaders and key players before the government delivers its final decision later this spring.

Britain has about 7,700 soldiers in Afghanistan, up from 3,600 in2006.

The U.S. contributes one-third of NATO’s 42,000-strong International Security Assistance Force mission, making it the largest participant, on top of the 12,000 to 13,000 American troops operating independently.

Harper has promised to put the future of the mission to a vote in Parliament, where the opposition parties hold the majority of seats. NATO urged Canada on Wednesday not to pull its troops and pledged to help find the 1,000 troops.

We still beleive that the only solution for the Afghan quagmire is to end the ISAF occuption, eliminate Mr. Karzai’s Northern Alliance Government and hand over the Pashtun provinces to Pakistan.