"It is a question of equity and fairness," NATO's top general said. "There are quite a few other countries, and Germany is not the only one, that have the capacity and should be doing more and we are asking them to do more."

"With due respect to many people who feel qualified to talk about Afghanistan, if you have not been on the ground and seen the people you cannot fully understand," [James Jones] said. "Afghanistan is not Iraq. It is a completely different problem and it is not lost in my view."

Jones stressed that combat restrictions were not the only problems that NATO still faced in Afghanistan. The alliance needed to focus on adopting a more cohesive strategy to reverse the booming narcotics trade which "fuels the economy in the wrong direction, provides economic support to the insurgency, and therefore the weapons. It is Afghanistan's Achilles heel."