Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

14 October 2003

NATO-NRF

• USA Today asserts that NATO officials are considering an unprecedented plan that would allow the Alliance to respond to specific crises without the approval of every member nation. The article also quotes officials saying that in addition, the defense ministers of the Alliance’s European member nations are considering creating a police branch of NATO modeled after the Italian Carabinieri to be used in peacekeeping operations. The newspaper stresses that the two proposals, allegedly discussed on the sidelines of an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers in Colorado Springs last week, reflect concerns about whether the NATO Response Force can get to a trouble spot quickly if approval must be granted by each member nation. According to the newspaper, the Italian government, backed by the French, proposed that NATO’s ruling Council draw up a short list of specific types of missions in which the NRF could be deployed after a decision made by top NATO officials. Another Italian-French proposal was the creation of a military police force within NATO to help with peacekeeping operations.

ISAF

• According to AFP, the Afghan government hailed Tuesday the UN Security Council’s vote to allow international peacekeepers to expand their work beyond Kabul. The dispatch quotes a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying: “The government is pleased with the decision of the Security Council to expand ISAF forces beyond Kabul. This decision is also welcomed by the Afghan people ... especially at a time when the political and reconstruction process is entering a new stage. The presence of peacekeepers in areas that are needed will be crucial in assuring the success of this process.”

Media center on the UN Security Council’s decision to give the green light for NATO to expand the Afghan peacekeeping mission beyond Kabul.
AP quotes Alliance officials saying Tuesday that NATO is expected to move cautiously with the expansion of its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. The dispatch notes that the Alliance is still waiting for military experts to present plans for expanding the mission and no decision is expected this week. It quotes NATO diplomats saying the expanded mission could start out small, supporting a German plan to deploy up to 450 troops to protect civilian reconstruction efforts in the northern city of Kunduz. The mission will likely be expanded gradually after that. Plans under consideration could eventually see thousands of NATO peacekeepers fan out to up to eight provincial cities, the diplomats reportedly said. According to the dispatch, they indicated that NATO Secretary General Robertson was sounding out other NATO nations for troop contributions for an extended force. Although only Germany has made a firm commitment, other nations--including Italy, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal--are considering sending troops, the diplomats added.
Claiming that the German contingent in Kunduz could reach its full operational strength of 230 men in the spring, Die Welt reports: “About 70 German soldiers are to be deployed in Kunduz immediately after the approval of Parliament in Berlin. As a rule, 230 German soldiers are to be stationed in Kunduz. Their number can be increased temporarily to 450 with a change of contingent.” The daily stresses that the mission of the force is to support civilian development helpers in the region.

PFP

• AFP reports NATO Secretary Robertson told reporters in Bern after a meeting with Swiss government officials Monday that NATO wanted to “beef-up and strengthen” the partnership with countries in the PFP program. According to the dispatch, warning of the danger of increased drug trafficking or a renewed refugee exodus if peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan fail, he insisted that PFP members could help NATO tackle the crisis there without making a military contribution. “One of the things we’re looking at with active Swiss support is how we deal with border control in their region,” he reportedly said, adding that NATO is looking to set up a PFP center to train border guards in Tajikistan.

BALKANS

• AFP reports leaders from Kosovo Tuesday sat down for their first face-to-face talks with officials from Serbia since the Kosovo conflict. According to the dispatch, Austrian Chancellor Schuessel formally opened the one-day meeting in Vienna that is to focus on practical matters stemming from the war, including missing and displaced people, transport and energy. The dispatch considers that while the sides were not to address the controversial issue of whether Kosovo should remain part of Serbia or become independent once the UN ends its mission there, the UN-sponsored meeting still marked a watershed.

OTHER NEWS

• Warsaw’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Oct. 11, asserted that the United States wants Poland and several other European countries to take part in the U.S. Missile Defense program. The newspaper quoted sources in the U.S. administration sources saying the United States is currently planning to sign bilateral agreements with several NATO members. Poland, the daily added, is alleged to have declared its readiness to join the group of countries that are to take part in building the system. The article continued: “The group will probably include Britain, Italy, as well as Bulgaria and Romania. According to preliminary projects, a radar and a communication station are to be located on Polish territory. The United States intends to cover the full cost of the project, which includes the construction of access roads, the construction and development of local airfields, long-term contracts for food for personnel serving in the bases, and guaranteed employment for a small number of civilians.”
  
  
• According to The Daily Telegraph, American whale-lovers claimed Monday to have forced the U.S. Navy to abandon the peacetime use of a new submarine-detecting sonar system in virtually all the world’s oceans. The article recalls that the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) had argued that the sound of the sonar was deafeningly loud to marine mammals, startling them and making them ascend too quickly and giving them the “bends.” It quotes the NRDC, which sued the military over the use of the sonar, saying it had struck a deal under which the navy promised to use the system only in specific areas along the eastern seaboard of Asia. The daily stresses that none of the restrictions would apply in time of war.