Rice asks Europeans for Afghan commitment

LONDON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged European governments Wednesday to keep as a NATO priority troop deployment to Afghanistan.

"Our (nations') populations need to understand that this is not a peacekeeping mission, this is a counterinsurgency fight, and that's different," Rice said in London during a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. "The military aspects of this are equally important, the security aspects are equally important with what we do in reconstruction and in governance."

The United States wants its NATO allies to increase their troop strength in Afghanistan, despite criticism about the mission from European countries.

On Wednesday, Germany said it would send enough additional troops to replace 250 Norwegian soldiers, The New York Times reported. Franz Josef Jung, Germany's defense minister, said the country would deploy only a rapid reaction force in northern Afghanistan this summer to replace the Norwegian troops.

Germany has about 3,200 troops there, third behind the United States and Britain.

The White House has been trying to get European allies to send more troops to boost the 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In addition, the Pentagon recently announced it would send an additional 3,200 Marines there.