By Patrick Lannin and Sue Pleming
On a visit to frontline troops in the birthplace of the Taliban, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kept up the pressure on reluctant allies to share the combat burden.
"Frankly, I hope there will be more troop contributions and there needs to be more Afghan forces," Rice told reporters travelling with her and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer acknowledged more forces were needed to combat mounting Taliban and al Qaeda violence but dismissed Gates' fears that NATO could become a "two-tiered alliance" based on a country's willingness to fight.
Rice dismissed independent reports that Afghanistan risked becoming a failed state and said "remarkable progress" had been made. But she said the war would not end soon.
The NATO-led ISAF force has about 43,000 troops in Afghanistan. Canada, Britain, the United States and the Netherlands are bearing the brunt of the fighting in the south, and they want other countries to contribute more in what has become the toughest battle in NATO's 59-year history.
On Wednesday, Germany said it would send around 200 combat soldiers to northern Afghanistan as part of a NATO Quick Reaction Force but would not move troops to the south.
In Paris, a spokesman for President Nicolas Sarkozy said France was considering sending more troops to Afghanistan, but did not confirm French media reports that some 700 paratroopers could be deployed to the south.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the alliance had not expected firm troop offers to emerge from the Vilnius talks and said all nations understood the need for reinforcements.
Gates said the difference in attitude among allies clouded the future of the alliance.
Rice and Miliband travelled to a military base in the southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban and the main city in Afghanistan's most volatile region. They met NATO commanders and troops before travelling to Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
A report issued by analysts at the NATO Defence College this week highlighted the stakes for the alliance in Afghanistan.
(Additional reporting by Mark John in Vilnius, Francois Murphy in Paris, Paul Taylor in Brussels)
