NATO allies hold talks on Libyan, Afghan wars

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BRUSSELS: NATO allies begin two days of talks Wednesday on the lessons drawn from six months of bombings in Libya and their goal of withdrawing combat troops from Afghanistan within three years.

While the air war continues in Libya, defence ministers will debate acute shortcomings they witnessed while carrying out the operation over the past six months.

Although alliance official say the campaign is nearly over, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday that "fighting has to end" on the ground before the air strikes can be called off.

Forces loyal to ousted leader Moamer Kadhafi are resisting the new regime's fighters in Sirte, east of Tripoli, and Bani Walid southeast of the capital.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen described the mission as "a great success" but acknowledged that it exposed Europe's need to invest in unmanned drones, intelligence assets and air-to-air refuelling aircraft.

Rasmussen is pushing allies to avoid drastic reductions in their military capabilities by pooling and sharing assets at a time of austerity across the 28-nation alliance.

With one conflict nearing an end, the ministers will also take stock of the unpopular war in Afghanistan, which marks 10 years on Friday amid plans for NATO to hand Afghan forces full control of security across the country by 2014.

The Taliban insurgency, showing they remain a force to be reckoned with, assaulted NATO headquarters and the US embassy in Kabul last month.

Hopes for a negotiated peace were dealt a heavy blow when peace broker Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former Afghan president, was assassinated in September by a turban bomber who was believed to be a Taliban envoy.

Another hotspot, Kosovo, will figure high on the agenda at the NATO talks after alliance peacekeepers clashed last week with protesters from the Serb community who put up roadblocks at a disputed border crossing. (AFP)