Nato allies 'must help pay costs'

The UK is sending an additional 1,400 troops to fight the Taleban

The UK's Nato allies must share the financial cost of war in Afghanistan even if they have not sent troops, the shadow defence secretary has said.

Liam Fox said Britain, along with the US, Canada and the Netherlands, was providing most of the soldiers in the ongoing conflict.

But he said that "worse than that", those countries were also paying the financial price.

Operations in Afghanistan in 2006-7 are expected to cost £770 million.

If just four countries of the 26-nation member Nato shouldered the bulk of the cost of the operation, it was a "real risk" to the future of the alliance, Dr Fox said.

No compensation

He cited Germany as an example of a country which, because of its conscript army, did not want to send troops to fight.

France is another country which has been criticised for not sending forces to the south of Afghanistan.

"They don't make any increased compensation for that by financial contributions," Mr Fox told BBC One's Sunday AM.

"The problem here is we are trying to fight 21st century problems with 1945 structures.

"We need to update that and, specifically, the link between fighting and funding needs to be broken."

In a separate comment, which is likely to anger those employed in the UK's arms industry, Dr Fox said that more military equipment should be bought from abroad.

"I think we spend too long in this country pretending that we can afford a bespoke military when actually we require a lot more off-the-shelf," he said.

Defence Secretary Des Browne announced last week that an extra 1,400 troops would be sent to Afghanistan - bringing the British presence in the country to about 7,700.