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Hunter: NATO slacking off in Afghanistan

A key Republican is complaining that more U.S. troops are being sent to Afghanistan simply because NATO allies are shirking their commitments.

In a Jan. 11 letter to the defense ministers of NATO nations, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee and one of the trailing pack of candidates running for the presidential nomination, threatens to reduce or prevent NATO allies from competing for U.S. defense contracts if they don’t do better in Afghanistan.

“In the eyes of Congress, it is unacceptable that the United States must continue to dig deeper into its military force when some of our NATO allies are unwilling to fulfill or make robust commitments to the international effort in Afghanistan,” Hunter says in the letter. “It is also discouraging that some of our allies continually restrict their military forces from certain geographic and operational missions, limiting the ability of our military commanders to execute their mission.”

Hunter was the armed services committee chairman when Republicans last controlled the House of Representatives. He announced earlier this year he will not seek re-election to Congress at the end of his current term, his 14th.

Pentagon officials announced the possible deployment of about 3,000 more Marines to Afghanistan to reinforce British troops on a mission of up to seven months that is needed because allies have not fulfilled promises for about 7,000 additional troops.

Hunter’s letter, which also was sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gales and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is aimed at making one last effort to get someone else to send troops before U.S. Marines are ordered to deploy.

Hunter says he would “utilize the national defense authorization and other legislative tools at my disposal” to block allies from U.S. defense contracts for countries that “have not held up their end of the bargain.”

DISCUSS: NATO's presence in Afghanistan