USA: NATO chief says that more is still needed for Afghan force

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries have made significant pledges to boost the alliance's force in Afghanistan but still need to do more to aid the mission, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Thursday (September 21). NATO's top operational commander, U.S. Marine Gen. James Jones, called this month for reinforcements and more equipment to fight fiercer than expected resistance from Taliban militants after the alliance moved into southern Afghanistan. "We do need I think more clearly to see the total picture in Afghanistan on the arguments that there is no military solution for Afghanistan. NATO can in a military sense create a climate for reconstruction and development. Without security no development, but the opposite is also true, without development you will never have long-lasting security," de Hoop Scheffer said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in New York. Jones said on Wednesday (September 21) NATO had now received pledges for about 2,000 of the 2,500 extra troops he appealed for on Sept. 7, although some of those commitments had not been made public by member nations. Poland has pledged to send 1,000 more soldiers, although they are not expected to be fully deployed until next year. Romania has said it plans to send 200 troops to southern Afghanistan starting next month. About 20,000 soldiers are part of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. The United States has a separate force of similar size operating in Afghanistan under its own command to fight Taliban and al Qaeda guerrillas. The NATO force is meant to protect development and reconstruction teams but has been engaged in pitched battles with Taliban fighters since moving south last month. De Hoop Scheffer said NATO was still looking for members to lift national restrictions -- known as caveats -- on how and where their forces can be used in Afghanistan and also wanted more attack helicopters and transport aircraft. "What is important is ... that nations do more than they have done to lift their caveats -- in normal speak, the limitations they impose on their forces about what they can and what they cannot do. Any military commander will be better than I can able to tell you how important it is that we really can. That's one example I can give you, the second is what, what the military call "enablers" and then you must think about helicopters and C-130 Hercules. That is still, that is still one of my ambitions. That's not to say, let me make myself clear, that on the basis of what we have we cannot do what we have to do, but we can always do better with more forces," he told a news conference. The NATO chief also touched on the organization's role in Darfur, insisting that there would not be NATO troops on the ground in the region, but that NATO's experience could help African Union troops. "NATO, on the basis of its huge experience can and let me use the word enable, enable a (UNCLEAR) force, which will now be continued till the end of the year according to yesterday's decision, to do its work, its very important work, better under these dramatic circumstances," he said. The U.N. Security Council recently voted in favor of sending troops to Darfur, but the Sudanese government has refused to sanction that deployment.

ITN Source | September 22, 2006

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