‘What is the price of not fighting this war?’: Mattis makes his pitch to get more NATO troops in Afghanistan – Washington Post

BRUSSELS Nearly three years after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ended combat operations in Afghanistan, the 29-nation alliance willsend troops once more into the country withhopes that the renewed surge will help the Afghan military beat back a resurgent Taliban.

Speaking ahead of a defense ministerial meeting here Thursday, NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg saidthousands of troops have been requested, but he did not say how many would deploy.

With the Taliban in control of broad swaths of the country and the Afghan military locked in a primarily defensive war, it is unclear how a new infusion of NATO or U.S. forces could radically turn the tide of the conflict.

Fifteen nations have already pledged additional contributions to Resolute Support Mission. And I look forward to further announcements from other nations, Stoltenberg said, using the name of the NATO mission to Afghanistan.

[Trump gives Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan]

Stoltenberg stressed that NATOs renewed presence did not mean the beginning of another combat mission; instead, he said, the alliancewill focus on building the Afghan special operation forces, air force and othermilitary training institutions.

We dont think this operation in Afghanistan is going to be easy and we dont think its going to be peaceful this year or next year or in the near future, he said during a newsconference Thursday afternoon. As long as the Taliban believe they can win the war they will not negotiate. We need to break the stalemate and to enable the Afghans to made advances.

Stoltenbergs remarks come as the United States weighs its own commitment in what has become its longest-running war. In recent weeks, President Trump delegated authorities to the Pentagon to set troop levels in the Afghanistan, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has pledged to present a strategy to Congress by mid-July. Earlier this month, the retired four-star Marine general told lawmakers that the United States was not winning, and battlefield commanders, including the head of U.S. forcesin Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, have requested a few thousand more troops.

Mattis said Thursday during a news conference that he had received 70 percent of the commitments from NATO countries for his upcoming strategy and was confident that he would be able to secure the rest in the coming weeks. Mattis gave no timeline for Americas renewed commitment to Afghanistan and suggestedthat NATO had drawn down too early in 2014.

Its not like you can declare a war over, Mattis said. What is the price of not fighting this war? And in thatcase were not willing to pay that price.

[Mattis: We are not winning in Afghanistan]

With a Taliban insurgency that has proven resilient despite heavy battlefield losses, lawmakers in Washington and some NATO allies remain waryof any new military solution in Afghanistan.

In an interview, Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said his country has received the request for more troops but has not yetdecided to pledge any additional forces.

Canadian soldierswithdrew from Afghanistan completely in 2014, after participating in several bloody campaigns around Kandahar in 2006 and a limited training mission after 2011. Between 2001 and 2014, more than 150 Canadian troops died in Afghanistan.

With no physical presence in the country, Canada has instead continuedto provide financial support to the Afghan security forces.

Afghanistan is obviously very important to us, and were going to monitor the situation, Sajjan said. The military is not going to give you that complete victory. It takes an entire whole of government approach for it; the real solution will come from the political side.

[Whats your end game? Trump delegating Afghan war decisions to the Pentagon faces scrutiny]

BritishDefense Secretary Michael Fallon told a group of reporters during the ministerial meeting Thursday that Britain was in Afghanistan for the long haul and would sendjust under 100 additional troops to help prop up Afghan forcesaround Kabul, bringing the total number of British soldiers in the country to around 600. In the last year, the Afghan capital has been rocked by a spate of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds.

Mattis said he would take what he learned from his NATO counterparts atthe defense ministerial back to Washington and deliverhis formal strategy to Trump in the coming weeks.

Currently there are roughly 13,500 NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The Americans number around 8,500 and are split between counterterrorism operations and supporting the NATO-led training mission. At the wars height in 2010 and 2011 there were more than 100,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

More than 2,000 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan since 2001, and Afghan security forces continue to take an almost unsustainableamount of casualties despite U.S. air support. Civilians, however, have borne the brunt of the violence, with 2016 marking the deadliest year for the Afghan population since the United Nations mission to the country began monitoringthe statistics in 2009.

Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report. This story was originally published at 9:17 a.m. and updated to include remarks from Defense Secretary Mattis and other officials in Brussels.

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'What is the price of not fighting this war?': Mattis makes his pitch to get more NATO troops in Afghanistan - Washington Post