Source: BBC
Date: April 2 2008

US President George W Bush has urged Nato allies to send more troops to Afghanistan ahead of the alliance's biggest-ever summit in Romania.

In a pre-summit speech in Bucharest, Mr Bush said "we cannot afford to lose Afghanistan... we must win".

Romania and France are due to send more troops and Mr Bush asked other nations "to step forward".

He also renewed calls for Nato membership to be open to any European democracy that sought it.

The Nato-led force in Afghanistan currently numbers 47,000 troops from 40 nations. Commanders have called for a further 10,000 soldiers to be deployed.

Nato allies want the Bucharest summit, starting later on Wednesday, to send the message that it will stay in Afghanistan for as long as necessary.

'Circle of freedom'

In a keynote speech hours before the two-day summit of the 26-nation alliance, Mr Bush said: "As [French] President Sarkozy put it in London last week, we cannot afford to lose Afghanistan.

"Whatever the cost, however difficult, we cannot afford it, we must win.

"If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our soil."

Mr Bush arrived in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, late on Tuesday. He has since left to meet Romania's President Traian Basescu in the Black Sea resort of Constanta.

On the eve of his last Nato summit, Bush set out his agenda in a wide-ranging, half-hour speech.

In addition to asking for more troops, he also pushed for Nato's eastern expansion and appealed to Russia to drop opposition to US plans to establish missile defence installations in Nato members Poland and the Czech Republic.

President Bush said the "circle of freedom", as he put it, must be extended to include new Nato members from the Balkans.

He said invitations would be issued to Albania, Croatia and Macedonia to join Nato.

'Not our enemy'

He also pressed the alliance to support Membership Action Plans for both Ukraine and Georgia - a move opposed by France and Germany.

"We must make clear that Nato welcomes the aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine for membership and offers them a clear path forward toward that goal," he said.

"Nato membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it, and are ready to share in the responsibilities of Nato membership."

He also appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept the US missile shield installations.

The US says they are needed to counter a potential threat from Iran, though Moscow fears they could be used against Russia.

"The Cold War is over," said Mr Bush. "Russia is not our enemy."

After the summit, Mr Bush will fly to Russia for final talks with Mr Putin, who steps down in May.

Russia is fiercely opposed to the eastward expansion of Nato, and has warned of a crisis if Ukraine tries to join.

Grigory Karasin, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said Ukrainian membership of the Western alliance would "entail a deep crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations".

France and Germany, backed by several smaller west European allies, oppose Ukrainian membership.

And opinion polls in Ukraine suggest there is little public support there for its admission to the alliance.