Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

19 June 2003

NATO

• In a news conference at SHAPE Thursday, SACEUR, Gen. Jones; DSACEUR, Adm. Feist; Gen. Sir Jack Deverell, CINCNORTH; and CINCSOUTH, Adm. Johnson, discussed, among other things, the transformation of NATO’s military structure and its current and future missions. A Transcript of the news conference is available on the SHAPE Web site (www.shape.nato.int). Based on the generals’ remarks regarding ISAF 4, The Guardian writes: “NATO said Wednesday it had no immediate plans to expand its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan beyond the capital. But it said that under an American plan allies might extend their influence via reconstruction work, using small groups of soldiers to ‘fan out’ into the provinces.” The Alliance is to take charge of ISAF on August 11, adds the newspaper. “The process of restructuring NATO along with new and ongoing operational commitments have Alliance members hustling from one end of the theater to the next,” says a related article in the Stars and Stripes. With NATO forces assuming the lead role in ISAF, the tempo is not expected to ease up anytime soon, the newspaper adds, quoting Gen. Jones saying: “This is like a basketball game, we are racing up and down the court.” The newspaper adds that with respect to the NRF, Gen. Jones said the force should be able to tackle a range of missions “from peacekeeping to crisis intervention.” Regarding Iraq, the newspaper continues, Gen. Jones said there is no current plan or effort under way to have the Alliance assume a leading role. The assistance and support being provided to Polish forces are simply about the Alliance helping out one of its brethren. Belgian media focus on Gen. Jones’ reply to a question over a U.S. warning that NATO headquarters may have to be relocated if the Belgian government does not change a controversial war crimes law. “Gen. Jones stressed that the issue was a bilateral one between Belgium and the United States. He refused to comment on rumors of a possible relocation of NATO,” writes De Standaard. Le Soir, which also echoes Gen. Jones’ statement, notes that at the news conference, Gen. Jones said he felt safe in Belgium and stressed that “as an American officer, it is a privilege to live here.”
  
  
• AFP reports NATO Secretary General Robertson headed to the United States Wednesday to participate in a ceremony establishing the new Allied Command Transformation (ACT) at Norfolk, Virginia. Stressing that the ceremonies would mark dramatic changes to the Alliance’s command structure, the dispatch explains that ACT is to focus on training and other efforts to transform NATO into a force capable of deploying rapidly to intervene in far-flung crises beyond its traditional theater in Europe. The NRF will be the centerpiece of the transformation effort, it notes. A related AP dispatch quotes Marcus Corbin, a senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, commenting that having a command focused on transformation is important for NATO. “Just institutionally, it’s good to have somebody at the top thinking about transformation and figuring out how to do it and what should be done, and doing experimentation,” Corbin reportedly said, adding: “Transformation isn’t just about upgrading to the latest technology but more about changing how you think and operate…. What really counts is the new focus of the command. That will be a real change, an added emphasis on figuring out how to dramatically reorient NATO’s focus.”

The Daily Telegraph quotes Gen. Sir Michael Walker, the new chief of the UK defense staff, stressing in an interview that “the obituaries of NATO are premature.”
The organization will have to change, but it will continue to be vital to European and trans-Atlantic defense, Gen. Walker reportedly said, adding: “Listen, NATO has been really the only show in town for the past 60 years…. The fact that a few people have the odd squabble at a time when there are intense and very difficult strategic events around the world shouldn’t knock off course an organization with that sort of heritage and strength.”

• Die Welt reports that in an interview with German daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, Chairman NAMILCOM, Gen. Kujat, said UN secretary General Annan’s suggestion to deploy a UN peace mission in the Middle East was “a realistic option.” The newspaper recalls that two weeks, ago at a NATO meeting in Madrid, NATO Secretary General Robertson said a NATO operation to secure peace in the Middle East could no longer be ruled out. Noting that such an operation could become the debut for the NRF, the newspaper adds that Gen. Kujat said that currently, it was too early to discuss the details of such a NRF operation, but added that “in general, NATO possesses the corresponding capabilities.” The newspaper, which quotes a NATO official saying that “the debate is definitely taking place too early and is too hypothetical,” adds that NATO officials suspect that Lord Robertson and Gen. Kujat suggested such an operation to see how NATO member nations would react.

ISAF

• According to the Independent, Pakistani President Musharraf warned Wednesday that Afghanistan could descend into anarchic warlordism unless drastic measures, including far more aggressive use of troops, were taken to extend the authority of the central leadership outside Kabul. “Things are not going as well as we had expected. There is a vacuum in the countryside that must be filled—if not, it will be filled by forces that are against peace,” he reportedly insisted, during a news conference in London. According to the newspaper, he added that the use of force was the only way to ensure that the writ of the central authority ran across the country. He suggested that additional troops could come from the United States, or from extended NATO participation. The article recalls that the volatility in Afghanistan was also raised in a letter sent by aid organization to the UN. “The aid organizations want NATO, which takes over in August, to have a much broader mandate than the peacekeeping force,” notes the article. Kabul’s Eqtedar-e Melli in Dari, June 17, insisted that if the UN and ISAF are deployed throughout Afghanistan and show that they will resolutely monitor disarmament and want peace all over the country, terrorism will stop and obstinate commanders will surrender. “The only thing that these fearless people submit to is power. The majority of the Afghans will definitely welcome ISAF, as we witness in Kabul. It would shake the power of local commanders and warlords throughout the country,” added the report.