U.S. urges NATO to do better in Afghanistan

A senior U.S. official said here Thursday that member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), who have made good performance of peacekeeping in Afghanistan, can do a better job in the war-torn country.

The NATO "is doing well but could be doing better," Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said in a hearing of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

About a dozen countries have sent troops to Afghanistan on the condition that they not be used in combat areas and be limited instead to humanitarian work, Boucher said.

"We say that everything that can be done should be done," the assistant secretary said of his dissatisfaction with these restraints.

Currently, there are 26 NATO countries that contribute troops to Afghanistan, while 11 others outside the alliance are joining the international coalition forces.

Boucher acknowledged that the situation in Afghanistan remain tense after the Taliban regime was ousted five years ago. But he insisted that Afghanistan is making progress in some way, citing illicit drugs constitute a much smaller percentage of the overall economy than they once did.

However, Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, painted a grim picture of the situation in Afghanistan.

"Osama bin Laden remains at large, right across the border in Pakistan in all probability," Biden said in his opening statement.

"There are reports that he's reconstituted his terrorist training camps ... The Taliban is back -- and keeping much of Afghanistan ungovernable. Suicide bombings, (explosive devices) and other techniques imported from Iraq made last year the bloodiest since their ouster," said Biden.

Source: Xinhua