By Sue Pleming
"Frankly, I hope there will be more troop contributions and there needs to be more Afghan forces," Rice told reporters travelling with her on the flight from London.
After flying into the Afghan capital Kabul, Rice and Miliband travelled in a U.S. military plane to a sprawling base in the southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban and the main city in Afghanistan's most volatile region.
Rice and Miliband met NATO commanders in the frontline of the fight against the Taliban and afterwards addressed troops. Rice gave a rousing speech praising soldiers' bravery and sacrifice.
The United States and Britain are urging other NATO members to share more of the combat burden in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.
Germany, for example, under its parliamentary mandate can send only 3,500 soldiers to the less dangerous north as part of the 42,000-strong NATO mission.
Canada has threatened to pull its troops out unless other allies come forward, and Poland's foreign minister has warned against "free-riding" in the alliance.
The Taliban, ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, fought back strongly last year. More than 6,000 people died in fighting in 2007, nearly 2,000 of them civilians.
"We want to spotlight the fact that we and several other allies are standing up and doing the tough job," said a senior U.S. official, who declined to be identified.
Specifically, the United States wants assurances that allies will fill the gap when some 3,200 U.S. Marines leave the south after a temporary deployment there later this year.
A Taliban suicide bomber wounded one Afghan civilian in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday in a failed attack on a foreign troop convoy, a provincial official said.
Some analysts see the NATO force in Afghanistan as far too small. "There are no clear indicators that the NATO countries, including the United States, are willing to invest a level of combat forces that would lead to success in southern Afghanistan," said Sean Kay, chair of International Studies at Ohio Wesleyan University.
