NATO/US "surge" in Afstan?

After the Slovaks? I don't know but even if more non-US NATO troops are sent will their presence be, er, meaningful and effective (see the Dutch angle at the end of this post)?

U.S. Enlists Allies in New Surge
Americans Seek Up to 7,000 Extra NATO Troops for Ramp-Up in Afghanistan

The Obama administration is in advanced talks with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies for a coordinated rollout of a new Afghan war strategy, which U.S. officials hope will include a commitment by European allies to send several thousand additional troops.

U.S. and European estimates of the new troops they may get from NATO allies vary from 3,000 to 7,000. Those would complement the additional U.S. forces Mr. Obama is considering; those options range from 10,000 to 40,000, but U.S. officials have said a combination of combat troops and training forces totaling 35,000 has gained the most momentum [35,000 would be quite something, one can but hope]...

U.S. officials' estimates of foreign troop increases are mostly targets at this point, and include some that already have been publicly announced or signaled by governments.

According to people briefed on U.S. plans, the Obama administration is targeting six European allies to contribute battalion-sized units, generally about 500 to 1,000 troops. Officials say they are most hopeful they can get commitments from Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Italy, which has 2,800 troops in Afghanistan, has signaled it would be willing to keep deployed the 400 added soldiers it sent as part of stepped-up security surrounding the August Afghan elections [see Update here]. An Italian official declined to comment. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown likewise has signaled intention to send 500 more troops [when the UK is dithering about 500 troops things are indeed at a pretty pass] , and Turkey has recently announced it is doubling its current complement from 800 to 1,600 [that's because they're now in command of the ISAF Kabul region, more here and note the "non-combat"].

Both Germany [see Update and Upperdate here] and the United Kingdom could find it politically difficult to commit more troops -- at least in the coming weeks.