Nato seeks more troops as bomb kills 16 in Kabul

AFGHANISTAN: Nato defence chiefs agreed yesterday they must plug shortfalls in peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan, an alliance spokesman said, after top Nato officials conceded they had underestimated Taliban resistance.

The defence chiefs of the 26-member alliance were meeting in Poland after at least 16 people were killed yesterday in the deadliest suicide bombing in the Afghan capital Kabul since the Taliban was overthrown in 2001.

A massive car bomb exploded near the US embassy. Police said that up to seven foreign soldiers or security contractors may have been killed in the explosion, which tore apart a US Humvee vehicle and scattered body parts of the victims across a wide area.

The US military said at least two of its personnel were killed in the attack.

"Some of them turned into pieces," a policeman said as rescue crews hosed down fires and washed blood and body parts from the road, metres from the entrance to the US embassy.

Many of the Afghan dead were poor street cleaners preparing the area for the anniversary of the death of freedom fighter Ahmed Masood, whose brown marble monument is nearby.

Taliban rebels said they carried out the attack, but did not say what the target was. The Taliban denies attacking civilians.

In Warsaw yesterday, Col Brett Boudreau, spokesman for Nato's military committee, said after a first round of talks among alliance chiefs of defence staff: "Everybody agreed that the requirements which the countries agreed on have to be fulfilled."

Nato expanded operations to the violent south of Afghanistan a month ago despite nations having come up with only about 85 per cent of military requests for troops and equipment.

Alliance leaders acknowledged on Thursday they had underestimated the intensity of resistance from Taliban insurgents and called on nations to come forward with the remaining commitments, amounting to 2,000-2,500 troops plus attack helicopters and transport aircraft.

They hope the three days of talks in Warsaw will give an indication of which countries will offer reinforcements, but expect final decisions to come only later in Nato capitals.

Asked whether it was realistic to expect more troops from armies already complaining of being stretched by military operations from Iraq to the Lebanon, Col Boudreau said: "Of course it is realistic. But it is a political decision and we cannot answer that." - (Additional reporting Reuters)