He said President Barack Obama would consider specific plans for moving forward over the next two to three weeks.
Speaking minutes earlier, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the defense ministers did not discuss precisely how many more troops might be sent. The U.S. and NATO military commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has asked Obama for as many as 80,000 additional American troops to continue the current mission of countering the escalating Taliban insurgency and protecting the local population.
Rasmussen said McChrystal’s request was being reviewed by NATO leaders, many of whom are reluctant to endorse large troop increases before Obama decides on a strategy.
“There were a number of allies who indicated they were thinking about, or were moving toward, increasing either their military or their civilian contributions, or both,” Gates said at a news conference. “And I found that very heartening.”
He praised NATO nations for already doubling the number of troops they have sent to Afghanistan over the last 15 months. “People really have been stepping up to this,” Gates said.
Gates also sought to assure allies that the United States also will remain in the fight, despite the Obama administration’s ongoing indecision over a war strategy.
“We’re not pulling out,” He said. “I think that any reduction is very unlikely.”
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that NATO allies are moving toward sending more troops and civilian aid to Afghanistan.
Gates said he was “heartened” by allies’ commitment to the 8-year-old war even as the Obama administration mulls whether to order tens of thousands more U.S. troops to the fight.
The Pentagon chief cited a long-term commitment by NATO partners to remain in Afghanistan until the conflict is successfully resolved.
At a meeting of 28 NATO defense ministers in Bratislava, Gates said he did not seek specific promises of military assistance, and none was given. He described, however, “a renewed determination to see this through.”
A different market
Kingfisher said B&Q’s fast expansion put a strain on management and quality control.
Ian Cheshire, the chief executive of Kingfisher, said the business had become too reliant on apartment design and installations and was not developing other services or product lines.
Cheshire, who led B&Q through one of its greatest periods of growth in the 1990s, said that the dramatic slowdown in the housing market hit sales hard as well.
According to the China Building Decoration Association’s (CBDA) latest statistics, sales in the home improvement and decoration market dropped 30 percent from 2007 to 2008.
Cheshire also said that the reliance on local suppliers to provide staff led to a drop in the quality of customer service and stocking.
According to Kingfisher’s fiscal report, B&Q was operating at a loss of 561 million yuan ($82.17 million) as of January 31, 2009. But the economic recovery spurred on by government stimulus did not stop the company’s sales income in the six months leading up to August 1 from declining by 18 percent year-on-year.
But B&Q is not the only foreign company failing in what would appear to be a promising market. The Home Depot pushed into China more than two years ago buying out a local firm’s 12 stores at once. That number dropped this year, as the US-based company closed branches in two of China’s booming second-tier cities, Qingdao and Shenyang, due to flagging income.
OBI AG, the fourth largest home improvement retailer in the world, opened its first store in China in 2000. Five years later, however, the German firm was unable to maintain profits and sold the outlet to B&Q.
Major foreign companies like Britain’s home improvement giant B&Q rushed into China when home ownership soared in the late 1990s, but that trend has reversed itself as domestic competitors with better market knowledge expand.
This month, B&Q, which has been in China since 1999, is cutting the number of stores it operates from 63 to 48 as part of its restructuring plan. Kingfisher, B&Q’s parent company, said closing the stores, revamping existing outlets, and expanding product lines are part of a $164.77 million restructuring plan to help get the retailer back on its feet in what could become its biggest market, and the whole plan is expected to be finished by the end of next year.
Other activists doubted the march would accomplish much. They said the time and money would have been better spent working to persuade voters in Maine and Washington state, where the November ballot will include a measure that would overturn a bill granting same-sex couples many of the benefits of marriage.
A bill introducing same-sex marriage was introduced last week by the District of Columbia Council and is expected to easily pass.
Rep. Barney Frank, an openly gay member of Congress, said the marchers should be lobbying their lawmakers. He said the demonstrations are simply “an emotional release” that do little to pressure Congress.
“The only thing they’re going to be putting pressure on is the grass,” the Massachusetts Democrat said Friday.
Sara Schoonover-Martin, 34, came from Martinsburg, W.Va., with her wife, Nicki, wearing matching veils and pink T-shirts that said “bride” and “I do.” The couple eloped at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts earlier this year.
“This affects my life every day, 365 days a year,” Martin said.
For Lt. Dan Choi, the day began with a jog around Washington’s memorials, calling cadence at 8 a.m. with fellow veterans and supporters before joining the march. A West Point graduate, Arabic speaker and Iraq war veteran, Choi is facing discharge under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for revealing in March that he is gay.
He appeared later at a rally in his Army uniform and a piece of black tape over his mouth.
“Many of us have been discharged from the service because we told the truth,” he said. “But I know that love is worth it.”
Thomas Leysen, president of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (EFB), which hosted the forum, told the audience that one of the two major lessons to be learned in the financial crisis was not to slide into protectionism.
“Belgium is small but a very open country. It believes that international trade and investment are key drivers of global growth. EFB is convinced that an open trade system is crucial for guaranteeing a return to viable growth in the coming years,” he said.
Leysen called on world governments to keep the promises to avoid protectionism they made at the G20 summits in Washington, London and Pittsburg.
“I believe that the perspective of the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the EU has a better future with the joint efforts of the two sides,” said Xi, who was on an official visit to Belgium, the first leg of his five-nation European tour.
Zhong Shan, Chinese vice Minister of Commerce, said the fact that China sent a business delegation with more than 100 Chinese companies to Belgium for trade and investment showed its willingness to join hands with other countries in the fight against the financial crisis.
“The Chinese government stands firmly against protectionism. We hope Chinese and Belgian companies can strengthen their ties and bring the economic and trade relations between the two countries to a new level,” Zhong said.