On her way to London, where she was to meet U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice emphasized the need for other NATO countries to send more troops to Afghanistan, as the allies’ numbers became insufficient. The request came after Canada threatened to withdraw from Afghanistan and Germany refused to send in more soldiers.

The London meeting is expected to reach other hot topics in addition to the Afghanistan intervention, such as Iran, Iraq and Kosovo. The encounter between Rice and Brown comes days before the NATO summit set to take place in Vilnius, Lithuania. At the same time, a new international coordinator of aid, government and economic projects for Afghanistan has to be named.

What Rice is trying to do these days is attempt to convince the allies of the necessity to send an equal amount of troops in Afghanistan, especially in the southern regions, where the Taliban insurgents are trying to remain strong on position. Germany refused last week to move at least part of its troops from northern Afghanistan, where things are more stable, to southern Afghanistan.

"It's true and we've made no secret about it that there are certain allies that are in more dangerous parts of the country and we believe very strongly that there ought to be a sharing of that burden throughout the alliance," Rice told reporters traveling with her to London. "That said, I think we ought not to also dismiss the contributions that are being made by all alliance members."

Rice also said the NATO allies had to put in balance whether the size of the Afghanistan police and Army forces will be sufficient to handle the Taliban threat, and at the same time “There’s still a desire to have an international figure who can better coordinate the international effort,” referring to the fact that Ashdown had been asked to take on the job of international coordinator in Afghanistan.