Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

4 December 2003

SACEUR

• Defense Minister Sarkisyan met Gen. Jones Wednesday in the first visit ever by an Armenian defense minister to the headquarters of Allied Command Operation, wrote Yerevan’s Mediamax, Dec. 3. The dispatch reported that the minister and Gen. Jones looked into the results of cooperation between NATO and Armenia within the framework of the PFP program in 2003. They also discussed all issues related to the participation of an Armenian unit in the Kosovo peacekeeping mission. During his visit, added the report, Sarkisyan was briefed on the current operations carried out by NATO in the Balkans and Afghanistan. He also visited the coordination center of the PFP program.

NRF

• Reuters reports Sen. Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters in Brussels Wednesday that France has asked to take over two NATO commands in a signal of willingness to work more closely with Washington on international security. According to the dispatch, he said President Chirac had raised the issue during a lengthy meeting with him on Wednesday and he would pass on his thoughts to President Bush. Biden reportedly said France wanted to head the NRF. He did not say what the other command was. “I for one hope there is no trouble about the two brigadiers-general the French are requesting. This is a time to be grown-up, show a little sophistication,” he stressed.

ISAF

• According to AFP, at the start of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels Thursday, NATO Secretary General Robertson announced that NATO had succeeded in filling key gaps in equipment needed for ISAF. “I am delighted to announce this morning that we have now filled the critical parts of what ISAF needs in Kabul. I am extremely grateful to those many countries round this table who helped us to do so,” he reportedly said. Earlier Reuters quoted a diplomat saying Turkey had offered three helicopters for ISAF, filling a gap that had begun to undermine the credibility of plans to expand the mission beyond Kabul. “We have solved the helicopter problem. Turkey is providing three Black Hawks,” the diplomat said. He reportedly added that the Black Hawks would be added to the CH53s—which Berlin had agreed to leave in Kabul beyond their scheduled departure date—and four choppers that the Netherlands offered provisionally earlier this week. “It’s not the 11 we were looking for but the numbers were always predicated on capacity and with the German helicopters we have the lift capacity we need,” the diplomat was quoted saying.
  
  
• The Guardian reports Afghanistan’s most powerful warlord has handed over tanks and weapons to the new Afghan army under a deal brokered with the help of British peacekeepers. Under the deal, the warlords agreed that a battalion from the new army would guard the surrendered weapons until the Ministry of Defense decided what to do with them. Eventually, the Ministry hopes to disarm 100,000 members of Afghan militias as it creates the new army and police force, thee newspaper says.

NATO

• Electronic media report that at a meeting with his European counterparts at NATO Thursday, Secretary of State Powell called on NATO members to take on a greater role in post-war Iraq, saying stability in the country was critical. “We urge the Alliance to examine how it might do more to support peace and stability in Iraq,” BBC News quoted Powell saying. The network carried a correspondent observing that Powell’s appeal was the first time that the United States had pressed the Alliance for help in Iraq. Warsaw’s Gazeta Wyborca, Dec. 3, asserted that the idea floated by U.S. officials to eventually put the Polish-led international division in Iraq under NATO command “appeals to Poland very much.” The daily said: “The United States is not putting pressure on the allies It wants to give them until the NATO summit in Istanbul in June 2004 to think the matter over. What the Americans are talking about is a natural evolution of the situation…. Such an evolution would undoubtedly be in Poland’s interests because the country always wanted to stay in Iraq for as short a period as possible.”
  
  
• NATO Secretary General Robertson is scathing about the refusal of some NATO member states, particularly Britain, “to put their money where their mouth is” and increase funding to the organization. He accuses some NATO members of being “pathetically mean,” writes the Financial Times. The article quotes Lord Robertson saying: “It is not the U.S. who does not want to pay more…. The U.S. is now fully behind NATO. NATO is probably one of the few international organizations of which the U.S. is a member that the U.S. wants to pay more money to.” He reportedly added that Washington had been prevented from raising the Alliance’s budget by “some governments.” The article notes that NATO’s civilian budget is 171 million Euros a year—the price of three Eurofighter aircraft—for the running costs of an organization with 1,100 civilian staff, of whom 300 are core civil servants. In addition, the organization has a military staff of 3,000--seconded to NATO and paid by the member states—and 4,000 members of the 19 delegations, rising to 26 after next year’s enlargement. “This is a very big campus. But the NATO countries are pathetically mean. In fact, there has been no effective increase in the budget for 20 years,” Lord Robertson is further quoted saying.

UNITED STATES-TROOP BASING

• Sofia’s Dnevnik, Dec. 3, viewed reports that the U.S. administration was to start serious consultations with its traditional allies and new partners on the global redeployment of U.S. military forces around the world. The article said: “It has often been heard that Poland, Romania and Bulgaria are the most likely hosts of some of these units…. According to Gen. Jones, the new plans for the forces in Eastern Europe will envisage a network of small bases that are deployed for a short period if the need arises…. This is good news for Bulgaria in the context of the struggle against terrorism, rather than because of some expectations about economic profits…. In the vernacular of military strategists, Gen. Jones’ message means that adequate forces will be deployed in our country, which is viewed as a border with the region that breeds and propagates terrorism. These forces will not be large, but will be extremely flexible and equipped with modern arms. They will not be ‘anchored’ in one country, but will be trained for a broad range of missions. The communication between the Bulgarian officers and soldiers of these forces, and their training with the help of up-to-date technologies will give an impetus not only to our army reform, but will also enhance our national security.”

ESDP

• Reuters quotes a NATO diplomat saying President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are due to talk by phone Thursday on the EU’s defense arrangements.