Obama's Bid for Troops in Afghanistan Fails

Barack Obama made an impassioned plea to America's allies to send more troops to Afghanistan, warning that failure to do so would leave Europe vulnerable to more terrorist atrocities.

But though he continued to dazzle Europeans on his debut international tour, the Continent's leaders turned their backs on the U.S. President.

Gordon Brown was the only one to offer substantial help. He offered to send several hundred extra British soldiers to provide security during the August election, but even that fell short of the thousands of combat troops that the U.S. was hoping to prise from the prime minister.

Just two other allies made firm offers of troops. Belgium offered to send 35 military trainers and Spain offered 12. Obama's host, Nicolas Sarkozy, refused his request.

The derisory response threatened to tarnish Obama's European tour, which yesterday included a spellbinding performance in Strasbourg in which he offered the world a vision of a future free of nuclear weapons.

Obama - who has pledged 21,000 more troops to combat the growing insurgency and is under pressure from generals to supply up to 10,000 more - used the eve of Nato's 60th anniversary summit to declare bluntly that it was time for allies to do their share. "Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone," he said. "This is a joint problem it requires a joint effort."

He said that failing to support the U.S. surge would leave Europe open to a fresh terrorist offensive. "It is probably more likely that Al Qaeda would be able to launch a serious terrorist attack on Europe than on the United States because of proximity," he said.

The presidential charm offensive failed to move fellow Nato countries. President Sarkozy told Obama that France would not be sending reinforcements to bolster its existing force northeast of Kabul.

Click here to read the full story from the Times of London.