Troop buildup for Afghanistan?

KABUL, Afghanistan — Concerned by Taliban gains and worried about more violence, U.S. military commanders have recommended that more U.S. troops come to Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

He did not say how many troops were requested. But other military officials have suggested that an additional 1,000 or 1,200 troops would help make up the shortfall in Afghanistan, especially considering the anticipated spring offensive. Gates, on his first visit to Afghanistan, indicated he would recommend a troop increase to President Bush.

"I think it is important that we not let this success here in Afghanistan slip away from us and that we keep the initiative," he said.

The extra troops would mean another stretch on the U.S. military, already pulled between two fronts and President Bush's new plan to add 21,500 troops in Iraq. Troops are stretched so thin that Bush has agreed to ask Congress to increase the size of both the Army and the Marines, and many current soldiers have fought in both fronts in the war on terror, sometimes twice.

An increase for U.S. troops in Afghanistan also would add to concerns about the role of NATO, which has taken over most of the responsibilities for the war. The Taliban has regrouped in the past year, making its biggest push against international and Afghan troops since fleeing power in late 2001.

Despite urgent pleas for more troops, though, NATO countries have not been able to meet the alliance's requests. Now, 11,000 of the 31,000 NATO troops are from the United States. As many as 13,000 other U.S. troops also are in the country, training the Afghan army, building roads or hunting for terrorists.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan also has asked to extend the combat tour of about 1,200 soldiers already in the country, in preparation for the Taliban's spring offensive.

Privately, some U.S. officials complained that America is being asked to meet demands in Afghanistan that the U.S. should not have to fill.

Afghanistan often is seen as the good front in the war on terrorism, the winnable battle, as opposed to increasingly chaotic Iraq. But there have not been enough troops to quash the Taliban.

In an interview Wednesday, Lt. Gen. David Richards, the British commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, reiterated the need for more troops.

"What we ought to do is win," Richards said. "This campaign is eminently winnable. What we need to do is a little bit more, a little bit longer."

On Wednesday, after a whirlwind trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said the U.S. should cap the number of troops in Iraq and increase forces in Afghanistan. Clinton, a likely presidential contender in 2008, told CBS' "The Early Show" that the conflict in Afghanistan is "one of the great missed opportunities."

The winter normally hasmeant a lull in Taliban activity, but the fighting has continued this year, although at a lower level. On Wednesday, NATO announced the detention of a prominent Taliban commander, Mohammed Nabi, during a raid in Helmand.

But much of the attention in Afghanistan on Wednesday remained on Pakistan.

Afghanistan ratcheted up the public-relations war with its neighbor, handing out video CDs with a confession of a self-proclaimed Taliban spokesman, captured Monday. Mohammed Hanif said Mullah Mohammed Omar, the reclusive leader of the Taliban, is living in the Pakistan frontier city of Quetta under the protection of the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.