NATO Commits 7K More Troops

NATO answered President Obama's call for reinforcements in Afghanistan today with a pledge to provide 7,000 more troops. The NATO secretary-general, speaking at a press conference, didn't say where the troops will come from, but Britain has already offered 500, and Italy, Poland, Georgia, and Slovakia will each deploy from a few dozen to 1,000, a senior diplomat tells the New York Times. France and Germany are still wild cards.

The president yesterday sent Hillary Clinton to Brussels to press the gathering of NATO foreign ministers for support, and to counter confusion over the meaning of the 2011 drawdown date. “Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to get to 2011 and jump off a cliff," the secretary of state told reporters en route to the meeting. "It means that we’re going to be as careful and deliberative as necessary.” (More Afghanistan stories.)