Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

2 July 2003

SHAPE

• Organizers announced Tuesday that a “bombspotting” demonstration by pacifists opposed to the alleged presence of nuclear weapons at Kleine Brogel will be held at Casteau, the site of SHAPE headquarters, on Oct. 25, writes local daily La Province. According to the newspaper, the demonstration was officially announced in a bulletin published by the organizers July 1. Speculating that infrastructure work under way at SHAPE is connected to the demonstration, the newspaper adds: “With utmost discretion … work aimed at securing the surroundings of the main entrance is under way. Bushes have been cut and, a few months ago, concertina wires have been added around the installation’s perimeter.”

ISAF

• According to Reuters, the UN envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, said in a conference in Beirut Wednesday that NATO taking command of ISAF could provide an opportunity for the force to expand beyond Kabul into lawless areas effectively run by warlords. Brahimi reportedly said there were signs that extending ISAF outside Kabul was now negotiable, and that NATO’s arrival could help seal a decision to spread its reach beyond the capital. “Discussion on ISAF is very timidly coming back on the agenda again, very, very timidly,” he said, adding: “The other thing that is happening is that NATO is coming into Afghanistan to provide leadership that may be an opportunity for expansion.” According to the dispatch, he said reluctance to contribute additional troops to expand the force has put the emphasis for maintaining order in the country on the Afghan army and police as well as on Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). But, he reportedly insisted, an expanded peacekeeping force would be preferable. “There are not a substitute, but a very, very second best to the expansion of ISAF.” AP reports meanwhile that conceding a lack of support for expanding ISAF beyond Kabul, the German commander in charge of the force, Lt. Gen. Van Heyst, Wednesday endorsed dispatching PRTs to key cities across Afghanistan. “If we want to bring security into the provinces, if you want to expand, let me say, the power of the central government … the only realistic (solution) for the time being is Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). Maybe it is not the best solution … but it is a solution and the solution is available,” he reportedly stressed. According to the dispatch, Gen. Van Heyst conceded that so far, the PRTs have had virtually no impact on security but said it was “ a start” and a step in the right direction that would also help expand the influence of the central government. The dispatch adds that ISAF will not contribute troops to the PRTs, but it is likely to provide logistical support for countries that do.
  
  
• AP reports that in his first video message since returning to Afghanistan last year, rebel leader Hekmatyar urged Afghans to “cut off the hands of the foreign meddlers” and drive all U.S. and other foreign troops from the country. “I invite all Afghan factions to come and forget our differences … and oust the foreign troops, cut off the hands of the foreign meddlers,” Hekmatyar, who led one of the factions in Afghanistan’s civil war a decade ago, said. Western intelligence agencies have long suspected him of trying to recruit members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda into Hezb-I-Islami for a war with the Karzai government and the foreign troops in Afghanistan, notes the dispatch.

NATO

• Warsaw’s Rzeczpospolita, June 30, carried an interview with Polish Defense Minister Szmajdzinski in which he discussed the establishment of a NATO Training and Combined Doctrines Center in Poland. The first Alliance officers will arrive in Bydgoszcz in a matter of months, Szmajdzinski reportedly said, adding: “During the first stage, about 100 officers will arrive in Bydgoszcz. Thirty percent of the positions will be held by Poles. That center will serve, among other things, to implement the training programs for NATO Response Forces as well a for troops from the countries of our region of Europe—new NATO members and partner countries. The decision to establish this center in Poland points to NATO’s determination to transform its structures and elevate the level of training and operational techniques. At a time when 40% of the related positions in NATO command structures are being eliminated, this is a big distinction for Poland.”
  
  
• Morocco Monday called for a reflection on relations between NATO and south Mediterranean countries, wrote Rabat’s MAP, July 1. The report added that at a two-day conference in London on security partnership between NATO and Mediterranean nations, Rachad Bouhlal, secretary general of the Moroccan Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Department, underlined that such a reflection should focus on the promotion of peace and security in the region. He reportedly underlined that terrorism has become a threat to regional and international security, and the eradication of such threat requires a collective, global and coordinated response on the part of the international community.

OTHER NEWS

• The Washington Post reports that for the second straight day, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the United States Tuesday to lead an international peacekeeping force in Liberia as the Bush administration came under increasing pressure from Britain, France and some West African countries to send U.S. troops to halt a worsening civil war. According to the newspaper, UN officials estimate that as many as 5,000 troops, including 2,000 Americans, would be required to restore order in Liberia. The newspaper quotes U.S. officials saying, however, that at a White House meeting, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld resisted an appeal from Secretary of State Powell to consider Annan’s request. Officials reportedly said the Pentagon believes that the U.S. military—which has 11,500 troops in Afghanistan and 150,000 in Iraq—is too stretched to undertake a new peacekeeping mission in a country that is not central to U.S. national security interests.