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NATO forces infuriated by US criticism

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates unleashed a storm on Wednesday by criticizing NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, saying they were ill-prepared to fight an insurgency.

"I'm worried we have some military forces that don't know how to do counter-insurgency operations," Gates told the Los Angeles Times. "Most of the European forces, NATO forces, are not trained in counter-insurgency."

Troops mainly from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are deployed in southern Afghanistan bearing the brunt of a fierce resurgence by the Taliban Islamic militia, which left around 6,000 people dead, including some 220 international soldiers.

Gates' rare public criticism triggered surprise in NATO and among US allies, and came a day after the US decided to send 3,200 extra troops to Afghanistan.

"I have the greatest respect for what the allies are doing in the west, the north, the east and the south," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"And perhaps more specifically for what is being done in the south. All the countries in the south -- where the going gets tough -- are doing excellent work," he said.

Australia and Denmark also have forces in the region.

The Dutch government went a step further, summoning the US ambassador in The Hague to explain the comments made by Gates.

"We do not recognize ourselves in the image conjured" by Gates, Dutch Defense Secretary Eimert van Middelkoop said, arguing that Dutch troops had acted with experience and professionalism.

US State Department Sean McCormack confirmed the US ambassador in The Hague was called in to clarify the remarks, but said Gates "was not directing his comments at any one country in particular, but at the alliance as a whole, which includes us."

Nearly 1,665 Dutch soldiers are deployed in Uruzgan in southern Afghanistan.
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