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AFGHANISTAN

• Turkey agreed on Monday to take over command of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, a TV station reported, after Turkish officials held days of talks with U.S. and British officials over military and economic matters. Private CNN-Turk television said that Turkey agreed to the move after assurances from the United States and Britain that they would help fund Turkish troops in Afghanistan. Turkish diplomats and military officials were not immediately available to confirm the report. (AP 181919 Mar 02)

• The Netherlands, which has a small contingent, said on Monday it favored prolonging the mandate of the multinational security force in Afghanistan but not its expansion into new parts of the country. Foreign Minister van Aartsen, speaking after talks in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, said the United States agreed with this approach. "The impression of the U.S. government and the Netherlands government as well ... is that there is no need for an expansion of ISAF. What is necessary anyway is a speedy discussion about the prolongation of ISAF after the six-month period," he added. (Reuters 182312 GMT Mar 02)

• Britain announced on Monday it will deploy an infantry battle group of 1,700 in Afghanistan, its largest military deployment for combat operations since the Gulf war. Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said the United States had asked Britain to join future operations against al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and that the British force - built around a Royal Marines commando unit - will be fully integrated with U.S. forces. (AP 182051 Mar 02)

NATO

• (…) President Shevardnadze - on his first visit to the European Union and NATO headquarters - said he was firmly committed to flushing out terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network who could be hiding in his country. (…) NATO’s Lord Robertson said Georgia should modernise its military forces to able to deal with terrorists, but ruled out any involvement of the military pact in, for example, helping to guard oil pipelines that run through the country. "The best way for Georgia to deal with the problem of terrorism is to have capable armed forces," he added. (…) Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said on Monday also that U.S. military advisers due to arrive soon in his former Soviet republic would play only a limited role. "They will be there to help Georgia... design military reforms and implement them. Mostly, they will deal with helping to train anti-terrorist units. They will not be involved in conducting any such operations," he said after meeting NATO Secretary-General George Robertson. (Reuters 182101 GMT Mar 02)

• The Bush administration is reducing the number of fighter jets on round-the-clock patrols over the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks, relying instead on a combination of planes in the air and on stand-by on the ground, defense officials said on Monday. They said the patrols, which have cost the military more than US $500 million, would be continued over Washington but would stop over New York except on an emergency basis. (…) Air Force officials, who asked not to be identified, confirmed a New York Times report that the 24-hour patrols over New York would end while those over Washington would continue and there would be intermittent sorties elsewhere in the country. (Reuters 190019 GMT Mar 02)

• More than 200 Czech soldiers from an anti-chemical warfare unit gathered at Prague’s airport on Monday evening to fly to Kuwait where they will join the U.S.-led operation against terrorism. (…) An advanced group of 20 soldiers left on March 7 to prepare their deployment. Shipping of the unit’s equipment, including a laboratory, began late last month. (AP 182056 Mar 02)

• Russia has decided to cut its peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo by more than a third this year, a Russian newspaper reported on Monday. The daily Izvestia quoted Russian Land Forces commander Col-Gen. Nikolai Kormiltsev as saying that the number of Russian peacekeepers would be cut from the current 1,962 to 1,300. Izvestia said the decision reflected the military’s disappointment with the efficiency of the Balkan missions and its desire to cut costs. (AP 181525 Mar 02)

• The United States complained on Monday that Yugoslavia continues to obstruct the The Hague war crimes tribunal and said it had not yet decided whether Belgrade had met the terms for more U.S. aid. The Bush administration has to rule by March 31 whether Belgrade has met conditions set by the U.S. Congress, including cooperation with the ICTY and releasing Kosovo Albanians from Serbian jails. (Reuters 181745 GMT Mar 02)
• Secretary of State Colin Powell promised the chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, that the United States would help hunt down suspects and provide information for their prosecution during a meeting in Washington. (…) The prosecutor told reporters, meanwhile, the tribunal has had a "lot of difficulties" with the Yugoslav government in seeking the arrest of fugitives. (AP 181708 Mar 02)

• President Kostunica said on Monday that he’ll resign if lawmakers don’t ratify a European Union-brokered accord dissolving the country and replacing it with a new nation, Serbia and Montenegro. (…) The Serbian, Montenegrin and Yugoslav federal parliaments have until June to ratify the accord. (…) "The process of the disintegration of our country and the Balkans in general has ended with this agreement on a new state," he added. (AP 181647 Mar 02)

• Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on Monday told one of his deputy premiers to quit because of his role in a spy scandal which has rocked the country and sparked a row with the United States. Djindjic said he had asked Momcilo Perisic, army chief of staff during much of Slobodan Milosevic’s rule, to step down. (…) Djindjic said he believed the high-profile snatch by Yugoslav military police was designed to damage his government. His arch-rival, Yugoslav President Kostunica, said he believed the operation was generally carried out correctly. (…) Djindjic said his government had also asked for the resignation of Aco Tomic, the head of the Yugoslav army’s military security department which carried out the arrests. (Reuters 182115 GMT Mar 02)

 FINAL ITEM