Portoroz, Slovenia – A plan approved Thursday to extend NATO’s military control across all of Afghanistan would put as many as 12,000 American troops under foreign battlefield command, a number that U.S. officials said could be the most since World War II.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hailed the change as a “bold step forward.”
The move is expected to take place in the next few weeks, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.
The largest number of U.S. troops ever under the control of foreign battlefield commanders was about 300,000 in World War I, said military officials traveling with Rumsfeld to the NATO meeting. It was not clear how many troops were under foreign command in World War II.
A U.S. officer, Gen. James L. Jones, is in charge of the overall NATO force, but the new arrangement would put the U.S. troops under foreign commanders on the battlefield.
The ministers also agreed to provide substantial amounts of military equipment for the Afghan army.
“There were in rough numbers thousands of weapons offered up, and I believe probably millions of rounds of ammunition,” Rumsfeld told reporters.
Rumsfeld said some countries had stepped forward in response to appeals from NATO commanders for as many as 2,500 more troops to join the operation against the Taliban in the south. But he said more were still needed. He declined to say which countries had made offers.
NATO-led troops took command of the southern portion of Afghanistan just two months ago and have been struggling to stem the escalating violence there. This plan would extend their control to the eastern section, which U.S. troops now command. Plans all along have been for NATO to take over the military in all regions.
