NATO has about 20,000 forces in Afghanistan, with almost half deployed in the southern provinces that are the heartland of the Taliban and Afghanistan's powerful opium gangs. Last week, Jones called for extra troops to support the 8,000 British, Canadian, Dutch and American soldiers fighting in that region.
Spain has said no. Its recent commitment of 1,100 troops for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon takes it up to the country's legal limit of 3,000 soldiers abroad at once. It has troops in Congo and western Afghanistan and may have to bring some home from the Balkans to meet the law.
Italy has just agreed to send 2,500 troops to the U.N. force in Lebanon. It is already playing a major role in NATO's Afghan operation with 1,800 troops in the relatively stable west.
Germany, too, is already heavily engaged in Afghanistan with 2,700 peacekeepers serving with NATO in the north. Fears of undermining that successful operation and a reluctance to engage in combat because of its World War II legacy mean Germany is wary of diverting troops to the south.
France also has several hundred troops in Kabul, but like Italy, it is focused now on Lebanon, where it has agreed to contribute 2,000 troops. source
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