McChrystal calls for fresh blood

“Afghanistan. More Blood Needed,” runs today’s headline in Gazeta Wyborcza, which covers the recent report from Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander of allied troops in Afghanistan. McChrystal claims that 30-45,000 more troops are ‘urgently needed’ in Afghanistan. “Things are getting worse and unless the West sends more troops, we’ll lose the war against the Taliban,” he warns.

According to Wyborcza, Washington will now increase the pressure on its European allies. ‘The Americans are facing the wall because the Canadians, who have already lost 131 men, have pledged to withdraw their 3,000-strong contingent from the southern province of Kandahar by end-2010,’ reports the Warsaw daily. Yet, if anything, the Europeans are thinking about pulling out from Afghanistan. The prospect has already been hinted at by the Dutch, who have suffered 21 casualties (their 1,800-strong contingent is supposed to return home by 2011), and is openly discussed by the Italians, shocked by the death of six their commandoes in an ambush last week. Sources in the Polish government have also ruled out sending more troops to Afghanistan, at least for now. The only country that has pledged help so far is Spain, expected to send an extra 200 troops shortly.