NATO seeks new allies and warns of tough Afghan fighting - Summary

Sun, 07 Feb 2010

Munich - NATO should look for permanent cooperation with world powers such as China, India and Russia, the alliance's secretary general said Sunday as top US and British officials warned of rising casualties to come in Afghanistan. The threats to Europe and North America come from so many parts of the world that NATO will only be able to deal with them properly if it can create a "stronger, more inclusive security coalition with NATO as the hub," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

"What would be the harm if China, India, Pakistan and other countries were to develop closer ties with NATO? There would only be a benefit in terms of trust, confidence and cooperation," Rasmussen told the closing day of the annual Munich Security Conference.

The idea would be to set up a permanent system in which the world's major players could discuss security problems and strategies. The initiative could even lead to joint training or planning.

"With a few exceptions, the various parts of the international community who do peace operations still don't train together, we don't really plan together, we aren't joined up in the field," Rasmussen said. "Ending this fragmentation will require a real cultural revolution."

NATO is currently debating a new overall strategy to deal with "asymmetric" threats such as cyber attacks and terrorism, and sees cooperation with other world powers as a vital part of that push.

But the chairman of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee said that his country still felt threatened, not reassured, by NATO's outward push because the alliance is still looking to take in new members among the former-Soviet states.

"The problem is the enlargement, the artificial enlargement, the politicized enlargement. The process by which NATO develops is very important for us," said Konstantin Kosachev.

Moreover, NATO has rebuffed overtures from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led alliance with Armenia, Belarus and Central Asian states, giving the Western-led bloc the appearance of hypocrisy, Kosachev said.

It was not the first time Russian officials have voiced the concern during the three-day conference, and NATO representatives were quick to respond that Russian fears about NATO expansion were unfounded.

"(NATO) is not against a country, it is for a concept," said Madeleine Albright, a former US secretary of state who is heading a panel on NATO reform.

"NATO was an alliance against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union no longer exists," she stressed.

The conference also discussed NATO's mission in Afghanistan, which this year is set to receive some 40,000 extra soldiers in a bid to break the Taliban-led insurgency.

British and US officials warned that the troop boost would lead to tough fighting and rising casualties.

"We will have a tough year in 2010. There will be casualties. We need to let our allies know that. It's going to be a very tough year," US Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for Western support for a number of measures to strengthen his government, including a possible return to conscription and the launch of a program to lure militant fighters back into civilian life.

"The environment demands us to engage in some form of meaningful integrated reconciliation and reintegration activity, fully understood in agreement with and backed by our international partners," he said.

The concept of funding militant fighters to give up fighting is controversial in the West, but NATO leaders said it was vital.

"We recognize its importance as a long-missing component" in the campaign, US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said, while stressing that it would only work if the military push delivered victories.

Karzai also urged the West to let his government take the lead in the country, "removing any parallel activity to that of the Afghan government."

NATO-led reconstruction teams, non-governmental organizations, international aid groups and bodies such as the United Nations "must be a support to the Afghan government, not a rival to it," Karzai said, repeating the phrase four times to hammer the point home.

Earlier, the conference focused on the question of Iran's controversial nuclear program, after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was ready to accept an international deal.

But conference delegates dismissed that declaration as a play for time. On Sunday morning, Ahmadinejad threatened to scrap the deal and re-start uranium enrichment.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307953,nato-seeks-new-allies-and-warns-of-tough-afghan-fighting.html.