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Bush calls for more Afghan troops Bush calls for more Afghan troops
(19 minutes later)
US President George W Bush has urged Nato allies to send more troops to Afghanistan ahead of the alliance's biggest-ever summit in Romania.US President George W Bush has urged Nato allies to send more troops to Afghanistan ahead of the alliance's biggest-ever summit in Romania.
Speaking in Bucharest, Mr Bush said "we cannot afford to lose Afghanistan... we must win".Speaking in Bucharest, Mr Bush said "we cannot afford to lose Afghanistan... we must win".
Romania and France are due to send more troops and Mr Bush asked other nations "to step forward".Romania and France are due to send more troops and Mr Bush asked other nations "to step forward".
During the summit, Mr Bush is expected to say Nato membership must be open to any European democracy that seeks it.During the summit, Mr Bush is expected to say Nato membership must be open to any European democracy that seeks it.
Nato allies want the Bucharest summit, starting later on Wednesday, to send the message that its 47,000-strong peacekeeping force will stay in Afghanistan for as long as necessary. The Nato-led force in Afghanistan currently numbers 47,000 troops from 40 nations. Commanders have called for a further 10,000 soldiers to be deployed.
In a keynote speech hours before the summit of the 26-nation alliance, he said: "As [French] President Sarkozy put it in London last week, we cannot afford to lose Afghanistan. Nato allies want the Bucharest summit, starting later on Wednesday, to send the message that it will stay in Afghanistan for as long as necessary.
'On our soil'
In a keynote speech hours before the two-day summit of the 26-nation alliance, Mr Bush said: "As [French] President Sarkozy put it in London last week, we cannot afford to lose Afghanistan.
"Whatever the cost, however difficult, we cannot afford it, we must win."Whatever the cost, however difficult, we cannot afford it, we must win.
"If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our soil.""If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our soil."
Mr Bush arrived in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, late on Tuesday. Mr Bush arrived in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, late on Tuesday. He has since left to meet Romania's President Traian Basescu in the Black Sea resort of Constanta.
He has said he will push for Nato's eastern expansion during the key summit. UKRAINIANS IN NATO MISSIONS Kosovo: 184 soldiersAfghanistan: 3 soldiersNato training mission in IraqMediterranean patrols in 2007
He has said he will press the alliance to support Membership Action Plans for both Ukraine and Georgia.
Russia is fiercely opposed to the eastward expansion of Nato, and has warned of a crisis if Ukraine tries to join.
The US president, who will meet Russia's President Vladimir Putin for talks on Sunday, said he had been assured by other Nato members that Russia would not have a veto on Kiev's possible admission.
Grigory Karasin, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said Ukrainian membership of the Western alliance would "entail a deep crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations".
France and Germany, backed by several smaller west European allies, oppose Ukrainian membership.
And opinion polls in Ukraine suggest there is little public support there for its admission to the alliance.
Open door
Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the BBC he supported Nato membership for the former Soviet states.
"There's no way that the door will be locked for Ukraine and Georgia," he said.
"The Nato Treaty very clearly states that European democracies fulfilling their criteria for Nato membership are welcome."
Mr de Hoop Scheffer said he understood Russian concerns but added that the "final decision will be taken by the allies and not by anybody else".
Answering a US call for more contributions to fight the Taleban and its al-Qaeda allies, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday that France would send "several hundred" more soldiers to Afghanistan.
But he said France would oppose offering eventual Nato membership to Ukraine and Georgia, saying it would upset the balance of power between Europe and Russia.
"We think that it is not a good answer to the balance of power within Europe and between Europe and Russia," he said.
The West, he added, had to make a strategic choice because "this crisis will also affect in the most adverse way pan-European security too".