US to add 7,000 troops to Afghan mission, says Gates

The United States aims to send at least an extra 7,000 troops to Afghanistan by next summer but must also do more to involve Afghans in the fight against a rising insurgency, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday.

Gates, visiting a NATO military base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, said he was working to meet a request for more forces from US General David McKiernan, the alliance's top commander in Afghanistan.

"We're going to try and get two additional brigade combat teams, in response to his request, into Afghanistan by summertime," Gates, who will stay in his post in the administration of President-elect Barack Obama, told reporters on board his plane.