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Washington: Nato risks a split between countries that are willing to fight and those that are not because some European states refuse to send more troops to Afghanistan, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.
He told a congressional committee, "I worry a great deal about the alliance evolving into a two-tiered alliance in which you have some allies willing to fight and die to protect people's security and others who are not."
Gates added, "And I think that it puts a cloud over the future of the alliance if this is to endure and perhaps even get worse."
The United States is trying to persuade its allies to do more fighting in Afghanistan, where attacks by Taliban and Al Qaida fighters have soared in the last two years.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reinforced the message on a visit to London, where she noted that only a small number of Nato nations had troops in the most dangerous areas. "We believe very strongly that there ought to be a sharing of that burden throughout the (Nato) alliance," she said.
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