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MADRID — Spain has no plans to raise its troop levels in Afghanistan despite calls by President Barack Obama for a renewed commitment to fight the resurgent Taliban, Spain's foreign minister said Tuesday.
The comments by Miguel Angel Moratinos are sure to be unwelcome in Washington, which has made shifting military assets from Iraq to Afghanistan a priority, but has so far found little enthusiasm from NATO allies in Europe.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, met senior French officials in Paris on Monday, but failed to come away with an offer of more French troops. France has voiced reluctance to send more troops, saying it wants more focus on a political solution.
German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said at a weekend security meeting in Munich that his country thought the troop levels would be adequate but would increase its commitment to train Afghan police forces.
The military situation in Afghanistan is increasingly bleak. The Taliban and other militants have expanded their power across the country in the last three years after their initial defeat following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Militants control wide swaths of the countryside.
Obama has said he will refocus U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. His administration plans to send up to 30,000 more troops there over the next year to add to the approximately 33,000 already in the country. Some of those American troops are part of the NATO force, while others operate independently.
Spain already has 800 troops stationed in Afghanistan, mostly in the relatively peaceful Western part of the country, part of a 55,000-strong NATO contingent.
"We don't plan for the moment to increase our military presence in Afghanistan," Moratinos told journalists at a breakfast meeting.
The top Spanish diplomat said his country had not yet received a formal request for more troops from Washington, and left open the possibility that it would study such a request when it came.
But he left little doubt that his country is hesitant about an increased military commitment.
"For the time being, our position is to say what our own analysis is," Moratinos said. "And that is that the answer is not to increase our military presence. The military presence has been increasing every year, and the situation has only gotten worse."
The comments by Moratinos and the French this week highlight the difficulty Obama faces on one of his signature issues. Washington has long complained of a lack of commitment from NATO — and has even warned that the security alliance could become irrelevant if its members refuse to stand together in places like Afghanistan.
But there is little appetite in Europe for another faraway war, and a sense among many that the cause is already lost. Analysts say that even a new — much more popular — American administration will have difficulty changing European minds.
Spain has had a frosty relationship with the United States since Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq in 2004. But the Spanish government has said openly that it hopes for much closer ties with Obama, a Democrat whose policies ought to be more in line with those of Spain.
But the two men have not spoken personally since Obama's inauguration, and U.S. officials have indicated that cooperation on Afghanistan is at the top of their wish list when it comes to Spain.
Moratinos said there are many ways to contribute besides sending more troops. He said Afghanistan is in dire need of increased infrastructure and aid.
