Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

25 February 2003

AFGHANISTAN

• Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar may be hiding out in the mountainous regions along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Afghan foreign minister, Dr. Abdullah, said on Monday. He said “eventually, they will be caught ... because they do not have popular support in Afghanistan.” Dr. Abdullah, who with President Hamid Karzai is attending a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, said Pakistan and Afghanistan were cooperating in attempts to eradicate al-Qaida and Taliban remnants from the border regions. (AP 242130 Feb 03)
  
  
• Norway is sending several special forces troops back to Afghanistan, the country’s Defense Ministry said Monday, and pulling out its contingent of fighter planes. Norwegian Defense Minister Kristin Krohn Devold said Afghan President Hamid Karzai asked her for more troops during his visit to the capital, Oslo, in January. The troops, a mix of commandos from the country’s army and navy with training in winter and mountain warfare, will be posted for three months, but that could be doubled to six months. Norway is also pulling out its six F-16s by the end of March. (AP 241243 Feb 03)
  

IRAQ

• Seeking UN approval for war, the United States and key allies Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the Security Council declaring Saddam Hussein has missed “the final opportunity” to disarm and indicating he must now face the consequences. But France, Russia and Germany, which oppose the military option, circulated an alternative plan to pursue a peaceful disarmament of Iraq through strengthened inspections over at least the next five months. Their memorandum won immediate backing from China, despite U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s lobbying efforts with top officials in Beijing on Monday. The council decided to hold another closed meeting to discuss the two proposals on Thursday. (AP 250136 Feb 03)
  
  
• Saddam Hussein indicated that he does not intend to follow UN orders to destroy his Al-Samoud 2 missiles, and challenged U.S. President Bush to an internationally televised debate via satellite linkup. In a three-hour interview on Monday with CBS television, the Iraqi leader said he envisioned a live debate with Bush along the lines of those in a U.S. presidential campaign, according to the network. CBS said it planned to broadcast excerpts of the interview on Tuesday and the entire interview on Wednesday. Regarding chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix’s order that Iraq destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles, CBS quoted Saddam as saying: “Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that.” (AP 250409 Feb 03)
  
  
• Turkey’s government agreed on Monday to seek parliamentary approval for U.S. troops to deploy in the country for a possible attack on Iraq, but said a final deal on terms with the United States had yet to be sealed. “An important section of the cabinet was not satisfied by the developments, but at the end of the discussions it was decided to send the resolution to parliament,” a cabinet spokesman told reporters. “At this point, talks with the U.S. on military, political and economic issues have reached a significant stage but they continue,” he added. Local media said agreement had been reached on some 61,500 U.S. troops moving through Turkey over a six-month period but there was no official confirmation of that number. (Reuters 241849 GMT Feb 03)
  
  
• The main mission of a U.S. invading force in Iraq would be to disarm the regime, not necessarily to capture or kill Saddam Hussein, the commander who would run the war said on Monday. Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command, did not suggest that Saddam would escape a final accounting but indicated his war plan is focused more broadly on destroying the pillars of Saddam’s power. (AP 242306 Feb 03)
  

NATO

• Support for joining NATO has dropped to a record low only a month before Slovenes vote on whether to join the alliance, an opinion poll showed on Monday. The results published by the state-run Center for the Research of Public Opinion showed support at 37 percent - only one percent higher than the number opposed to membership - making the outcome of a March 23 referendum uncertain. Although the result of the referendum is not binding on the government, which has campaigned strongly for membership, a no-vote would put it under pressure to reconsider its options. (AP 241655 Feb 03)

BALKANS

• Kosovo’s UN-led administration on Monday rejected an appeal by Belgrade to allow the return of Serbian forces to the province and for talks on its future status to start in 2003. The UN mission also dismissed any suggestion from Serbia that the province may be divided along ethnic lines between majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was quoted as telling Britain’s Times newspaper in an interview published at the weekend that Belgrade would sponsor a breakaway Serb mini-state if the West prevented its troops from returning to guarantee the minority’s rights. (Reuters 241710 GMT Feb 03)
  
  
• Serbian government claims that ethnic Albanian extremists have been amassing in Kosovo and crossing into southern Serbia are completely unsubstantiated, a top U.S. commander in Kosovo said on Monday. Brig. Gen. Daniel J. Keefe, the head of the U.S.-run sector of Kosovo - which borders the volatile Presevo Valley area of southern Serbia - said that there is no evidence to support recent claims from Belgrade that ethnic Albanian extremists are gathering in Kosovo. On Monday, the top UN official in Kosovo also said he was skeptical of Serbian government claims and asked to see the evidence. “The Serbian side has not given us any real evidence,” said Michael Steiner. “And we do not have any of our own either.” (AP 241621 Feb 03)