Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

27 August 2003

GENERAL JONES

• According to Reuters, Gen. Jones said in an interview Tuesday NATO would be capable of deploying a stabilization force in post-war Iraq if the call came even though its members are militarily overstretched across the globe. A Polish-led force of 9,000 troops already operating in south-central Iraq could come under Alliance command and it could be bolstered by troops from other countries such as Turkey, Gen. Jones reportedly said. According to the dispatch, he also said he was not “unusually alarmed” by the crescendo of violence in Afghanistan. “Right now I’d consider it a spike more than a dramatic increase,” he said, referring to the attacks by Taliban remnants and renegade warlords, stressing: “We will not become sitting ducks…. I will make the military recommendations to make sure that doesn’t happen.” However, he reportedly declined to be drawn on whether ISAF’s mandate should be beefed up and extended beyond Kabul. The dispatch further reports that referring to the NRF, Gen. Jones noted that NATO’s plan to set up a rapid reaction force should raise the proportion of deployable troops in Europe. Recalling that when the U.S. proposed the force last year the idea was for an integrated air, land and sea capability comprising some 20,000 troops, the dispatch quotes Gen. Jones saying this could be a tall order. “Are you really saying you have another 60,000 sitting there to roll in one (six-month) rotation after another? Statistically, because of the number of people we have in uniform the answer would seem to be yes. But the problem is that much of our capability in NATO right now is still very much oriented toward the challenges of the 20th century,” SACEUR reportedly observed.

ISAF

• AP reports Chancellor Schroeder said Wednesday that Germany was committed to deploying troops to northern Afghanistan to support reconstruction efforts, expanding the German peacekeeping role in Kabul. According to the dispatch, Schroeder’s Security Cabinet approved sending a possible 250 troops to the Kunduz region to help maintain order and aid civilian relief organization. Schroeder reportedly said he hoped to send German troops to the provinces “on the basis of an extension of the ISAF mandate,” keeping the peacekeeping effort separate from Operation Enduring Freedom. The dispatch notes that the decision requires parliamentary approval.

The Wall Street Journal views the challenge of training Afghan police.
As the West grapples with greater security problems in Iraq, the Kabul experience is a reminder of the challenges and long-term commitment required to restore security to a war-ravaged nation. U.S. and European advisers are helping train Afghanistan’s nascent police force, but many Afghan police recruits, after years of war, still harbor factional loyalties and are better at paramilitary tactics than traditional police work, writes the newspaper. “Policing of your own country is a very sophisticated business,” the newspaper quotes Gen. Sir Jack Deverell, ISAF operational commander saying. The newspaper continues: “For now, most of the police work in Kabul is carried out by ISAF…. NATO says it will stay in Kabul as long as necessary and will consider expanding peacekeeping operations into the provinces. How soon western peacekeepers can leave the country depends on the pace of rebuilding the Afghan national army and police, a project that will take years to reach the declared goals of 70,000 trained soldiers and 50,000 police officers.”

BALKANS

• AFP reports NATO-led peacekeepers Wednesday maintained their presence around the home of former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic’s daughter. The dispatch says the soldiers withdrew during the night from positions they took up Tuesday in Pale, around the home of Karadzic’s daughter Sonja, his wife Ljiljana’s private medical practice and a police station. It adds, however, that in groups of two vehicles, they patrolled the area during the night until early Wednesday when they returned to their previous positions.

OTHER NEWS

• The New York Times writes that according to a new confidential report distributed Tuesday, international inspectors have found traces of highly enriched uranium at an Iranian facility. The newspaper notes that the traces could be an indication that Tehran has also produced weapons-grade nuclear material. It adds, however that, according to the leaked report, Iranians explained that the trace particles found by inspectors at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant had been on the equipment when it was purchased from another country. A related AP dispatch claims that the find heightened concerns about the nature of Iran’s nuclear program.