WASHINGTON, Sept 16: Opinion polls in some of the countries the United States wants to contribute troops for Iraq show that people strongly oppose the suggestion, the USA Today reported on Tuesday.

Pakistan and India top the list of the countries where public opinion is strongly against sending troops to Iraq. France, Germany, Russia and Turkey are also on the same list.

The newspaper quotes Andrew Krepinevich, an analyst with the Center for Strategic Budgetary Assessments in Washington, as saying that “Pakistani troops have proven incapable of policing their own border with Afghanistan” and, therefore, they cannot be very effective against another Muslim nation, Iraq.

The image of (Hindu) Indian troops effectively stabilizing a Muslim population is difficult to sustain,” Mr. Krepinevich adds.

“The Russian experience against Muslims in Chechnya,” says the analyst, could render them most unwelcome in Iraq (too).”

The report points out that most military forces are designed to defend the homeland and few have the capability to transport forces any substantial distance.

For example, a UN force for Congo, largely from Uruguay, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Nepal, took nearly four months to arrive, a military expert tells the paper.

Based on these statistics, the newspaper says that even if the Bush administration gets a new UN resolution authorizing an international force, it may find it difficult to find troops to fight its war in Iraq. Many world leaders face formidable problems in trying to convince their people of the wisdom of sending troops to a country where US soldiers are attacked almost daily,” the report says.

Last week, President Bush proposed to cede some control over postwar Iraq to the United Nations in hopes of persuading allies to send more peacekeeping troops.

Pentagon planners are counting on a second multinational force, besides one led by Poland, to replace the US Army’s 101st Airborne in February, but no country has so far emerged to lead that division, and no forces have been identified as replacements.

The report says that parliaments in Turkey and India have rejected sending troops, and a UN resolution might not sway or overcome their opposition.

The report also notes that on Friday India said that it wouldn’t send troops even with a UN resolution.

Lack of available and well-trained troops is another problem facing the United States, says the report. There are 15 UN peacekeeping missions underway around the world, plus non-UN multinational forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Those deployments have drained troops from countries with well-trained forces.

Defense analysts tell the USA Today that a nation generally needs three times the number of troops it will send on a foreign mission to ensure a rotation of fresh soldiers. Under that guideline, a nation would need 15,000 available troops to send 5,000 to Iraq. Few countries have that kind of flexibility for an Iraq mission with an unknown end date.

Nato members such as Denmark and the Netherlands that backed the US effort have few additional troops to spare but are trying to increase their commitment, the newspaper says.

The report points out that Eastern European nations in line to join Nato and others looking to win favor with the United States are making contributions but are already facing problems in Iraq.

The Bulgarians, for example, have found their older weapons and communication systems breaking down in the harsh elements. Some participating countries, the report says, would insist on staying out of high-risk areas or would refuse to participate in policing and anti-terrorist activities that have caused serious problems for the US-led coalition.