The Bush administration and Britain is pushing its NATO allies to quickly send more troops to Afghanistan to fight al-Qaeda. Canada has already threatened to pull its troops from Afghanistan next year unless other allies send reinforcements. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a call for more international troops during a NATO meeting in Lithuania.

Robert Gates: “I think it would certainly be a set back if Canada left, and in a way Canada has kind of caused the alliance to face up to this differential between those who like Canada and Australia, Britain, the Dutch, the Danes, who are fighting and who have taken casualties, as opposed to some of those who are in less violent areas.”

In other news from Afghanistan, the United Nations reports opium growth is increasing at an alarming rate in south and southwest Afghanistan.