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ESDP

• According to AFP, Greek Defense Minister Papantoniou said in Athens Monday that Greece is now prepared to see an EU force take over peacekeeping duties in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia under specific conditions. If no agreement can be reached on the EU’s use of NATO assets, Papantoniou reportedly said, "we must find specific conditions which will make possible the mission of this (EU) force, in cooperation with the countries of NATO." This would be possible in the light of previous experience where military forces had cooperated in a general framework, he added.

ISAF

• Reuters reports international peacekeepers were on high alert in Kabul Tuesday as the country observed a day of mourning for slain Vice President Qadir. The dispatch quotes ISAF Commander, Turkish Maj. Gen. Zorlu saying his 5,000 soldiers in the capital were on high alert as a precaution against "such a terrible crime happening again." In a written statement, Gen. Zorlu reportedly also stressed that "it is vital to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice as soon as possible and ISAF will donate every resource required to achieve it."

The slaying of Vice President Qadir continues to generate calls for a stronger role for ISAF.

"The United States has resisted all attempts at extending the ISAF mandate to provide security beyond (Kabul), on the grounds that it might conflict with its own anti-terrorist campaign. It has also refused to become involved in anything that might be described as a ‘peacekeeping’ operation," notes the Financial Times. It insists, however: "Washington needs to rethink its hostility to peacekeeping…. More needs to be done. That is all part of the essential task of nation-building in Afghanistan, to deny future haven to terrorists."

"For months, President Karzai has been actively campaigning for more security assistance, and his appeals have fallen on deaf ears in Washington. Perhaps now with Qadir’s death, the Bush administration will realize the dangers of leaving the central government so vulnerable to the destabilizing violence of the warlords. It will be much less costly to prevent a new civil war than to step in once the violence has gotten out of control," says the Wall Street Journal.

• Western donor nations are being warned a fresh exodus of Afghan refugees could be triggered as early as next month if the UN agency assisting the resettlement of 2 million people runs out of funds and is forced to suspend its aid program, writes The Guardian. The crisis has been precipitated by the return home of more than 1.1 million Afghan refugees since March, a far higher figure than anticipated, adds the daily.

Examining Franco-U.S. military cooperation in Afghanistan, Le Monde writes that four months after the start of Operation Anaconda, the French Armed Forces Staff has admitted that "we did come up against some problems."

"While the French aerial operations centers work according to the same mode as that which applies within NATO, it had to be acknowledged in Afghanistan that the United States uses a different system," says the article, adding: "Thus France’s aviators had to adjust to new rules of cooperation with their U.S. partners. Similarly, the American special forces deployed on the ground in guidance missions, use encrypted radio communications with aircraft tasked with the strikes that are different from those used by NATO. This resulted in problems of operational dialogue. Last, American warships do not communicate via electronic messaging in the same way as NATO warships do. On this occasion the French were able to see that the American forces have command, control, and communications equipment that enables them to transcend the constraints imposed on the NATO allies, if necessary." The newspaper stresses, however, that Operation Anaconda did achieve a rapprochement between the two countries’ special forces.

TURKEY-POLITICS

• Reuters writes that Turkish Prime Minister Ecevit’s three-party government teetered on the verge of collapse Tuesday after ministers resigned and his party rebelled as it faced the prospect of early elections. The dispatch notes that if Ecevit were to resign, the way forward would be unclear. The coalition of DSP, MHP and Motherlands seems unlikely to survive in any effective form. Desertions in the DSP mean the party has lost its pre-eminence in parliament. Optimists might see quick polls, with at least the hope of a clear outcome accommodating economic reform and EU membership aspiration, as preferable to a long-drawn-out death of the current government—if an interim government can be found in parliament, says the dispatch. It adds, however, that the powerful and popular armed forces would be alarmed that the most likely winner of polls today would be the AK Party—"a grouping it views with intense suspicion because of its (religious) roots." In a similar vein, The Independent writes that "if elections were held now, the big winner could be the Islamist AK Party, viewed warily by the powerful army for its religious roots." AP notes that the resignation of three ministers, including deputy Prime Minister Ozkan, and 18 lawmakers was a serious blow to Ecevit’s efforts to remain in power despite being hospitalized and suffering from various ailments over the past two months.

 FINAL ITEM