美國要求北約成員國增加防務開支

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned NATO members that they must increase their defense spending commitments to the alliance.

Gates spoke at NATO headquarters in Brussels Friday, in what is expected to be his last major policy speech before retiring at the end of the Month. He said U.S. lawmakers are losing patience with covering three-quarters of defense spending for the coalition.

Gates noted that all 28 NATO members voted for the mission against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but fewer than half have participated.

He said unwillingness or inability to contribute has also affected operations in Afghanistan, where he said the coalition has "struggled, at times desperately" to sustain a deployment of up to 45,000 troops.

He said finishing the mission in Afghanistan must be done in a united way, not dictated by each member's domestic financial situation.

And he said if other nations fail to step up their contributions to the more than 60-year-old transatlantic alliance, future U.S. administrations might not consider the return on its investment worth the cost.

Gates said Thursday that substantial military progress is being made on the ground in Afghanistan, but warned that those gains could be threatened if the transition to full Afghan government control of security is not made in a deliberate, organized and coordinated manner.美國國防部長蓋茨警告北約成員國說，他們必須增加對北約承擔的防務開支。

蓋茨星期五在布魯塞爾的北約總部做出上述表示。預計這將是蓋茨本月底退休之前最後一次發表重要政策講話。他說，美國議員們對於美國承擔北約四分之三的防務開支一事正在失去耐心。

蓋茨指出，所有北約28個成員國都投票支持實施針對利比亞領導人卡扎菲的使命，但參與行動的成員國還不到一半。蓋茨說，北約成員國不願或不能做出貢獻還影響到在阿富汗的行動。

他表示，北約只有“非常盡力，有時甚至是拼命”的時候才能維持在阿富汗的4萬5千駐軍。蓋茨說，完成在阿富汗的使命必須統一步伐，而不是按照每個成員國的國內財政狀況來行動。

如果其他成員國不能增加對已有60年曆史的北約的貢獻，蓋茨說，未來的美國政府可能認爲美國對北約的投資得不償失。蓋茨表示，在軍事上，阿富汗正在取得重大進展。如果向阿富汗政府全部移交安全責任的過程不能以審慎、有組織的協調方式進行，蓋茨說，這些進展就會受到威脅。