BRUSSELS — NATO's defense ministers on Thursday reaffirmed their commitment to sending nearly 7,000 troops to southern Afghanistan by the fall despite an increase in violence in the region that has sparked fears of a Taliban resurgence in the country.
Gathered at the alliance's headquarters for their annual meeting, the ministers said they would go ahead with the deployment and would not be deterred by attacks that have killed eight Canadian and two British soldiers since the move into the south began this spring.
"No one should doubt NATO's commitment to this mission, nor our ability to carry it out," said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the alliance's secretary-general. "Afghanistan is a long-term commitment, and allies are resolved to provide our mission with the military tools to do the job."
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, here for his first meeting with the alliance defense ministers since assuming his post in late 2004, said he believed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be able to put down the uprising in the south in "one or two months." He said the offensive appeared timed to destabilize the region as NATO troops were arriving.
"There has been an effort by Taliban and their allies to take advantage of this time of transition," Wardak said after a 90-minute discussion with his counterparts, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "They want to influence public opinion in European capitals."
NATO military officials have questioned whether the upsurge in violence is solely due to a return of Taliban- and Al Qaeda-linked forces in the south. Some of the most high-profile violence has occurred in Helmand province, one of Afghanistan's prime poppy-growing regions, and commanders have said some of the attacks may be related to drug trafficking.
But officers also acknowledge that the introduction of NATO forces for the first time in the south, which will double the number of coalition soldiers in the region, and Afghanistan's annual spring fighting season are primary factors in stirring anti-coalition activity. Military officials estimate that about 600 fighters are in Helmand, nearly double the figure of six months ago.
"This is now the season that the Taliban get more active, and then it will die down again," Rumsfeld said.
