Secretary Rumsfeld has agreed to put 12,000 troops in eastern Afghanistan under NATO command, possibly as soon as next month. The command shift, approved at a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers, would extend NATO's area of operations across all of Afghanistan. It would still leave about 10,000 American troops, including Special Operations units, under exclusive American control.
The decision to place more than half of U.S. forces in Afghanistan under NATO theater commander Lt. Gen. David J. Richards of Britain would put the alliance in control of 32,000 soldiers from 37 countries.
In discussions on Thursday, a NATO official said several countries discussed providing additional troops or equipment, including Denmark, the Czech Republic and Canada. But major European powers, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, have not sent additional troops to the south. American officials said it was unlikely that American units would be shifted in large numbers to the south because they were needed on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where attacks have also intensified.
Comments