Gates had offered a partnership with Russia on missile defense, but the US side appeared taken aback by Putin's proposal.
STUTTGART: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates will press European allies for more troops and equipment for Afghanistan at a two-day NATO meeting this week, senior US defence officials said on Wednesday.
Gates arrived here for briefings at the headquarters of the US European Command before proceeding to Brussels for a formal meeting of NATO defence ministers Thursday and Friday. He also planned a stop at the US military hospital at Landstuhl, Germany.
A defence official told reporters travelling with Gates that the US side was disappointed by NATO's lack of progress in fulfilling commitments made by allied leaders on Afghanistan at a summit in Riga last year.
"There certainly is a need for more combat forces," the official said. "There is also a need for more enablers. Helicopters is one of them. Equipment is another."
The shortfall includes three to four manoeuvre battalions and more than 3,000 trainers for the Afghan security forces, the officials said.
There are currently about 37,000 troops in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
They said Gates will urge member countries to meet those requirements, adding that NATO members would help close the gap with offers at a force generation conference this week. Relations with Russia and US missile defence plans for Europe also were expected to come up in Gates discussions at the NATO meeting and in bilateral meetings.
He was scheduled to meet with his Russian counterpart Thursday morning on the sidelines of the NATO meeting.
The senior defence official said they were not expecting the Russians to provide more details on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal last week for a joint US-Russian radar in Azerbaijan. "Of course, we would be very receptive to any clarification that the Russians would have," the official said.
"We're just very happy to receive a positive indication that Russia recognises the threat from Iran and has some good ideas about how we can cooperate," she said.
US plans to put a missile defence radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles infuriated Moscow despite Washington's insistence that they pose no threat to Russia's large nuclear arsenal.
Gates had offered a partnership with Russia on missile defense, but the US side appeared taken aback by Putin's proposal.
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