Talks with Taliban possible: Gates

The push to quickly increase the size of Afghanistan’s army and spread the cost of the initiative underscores the financial and military strain the war has placed on the United States and NATO members, many also operating in Iraq and elsewhere.

“The faster we get the (Afghan army) to the size and strength they need to be, the less they depend on us for providing security, and God knows we operate far more expensively than the Afghan national security forces do,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

“At a minimum it’s going to cost $17 billion. That’s a hefty price-tag and someone’s got to pay it,” Morrell said.

“This may be one of those cases where countries that have had a reluctance to contribute forces, in particular combat forces, may be able to take part in this mission through a financial contribution to the development of the Afghan National Army.”

The new Pentagon push to share costs more widely reflects a realization among US officials that some allies simply will not put troops into the war despite heavy pressure from Washington - something Europe has been telling the United States for more than a year.

But it also threatens to create just the type of two-tiered NATO alliance that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned against early this year.

Gates in February said NATO risked a split between allies willing to “fight and die” and those who were not.

Morrell last week cast it as “those who fight and those who write cheques.”

Meanwhile,  The Afghan government held talks with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia last month, a leading Saudi paper reported, despite denials from both Kabul and the Taliban that such talks had taken place.