Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

9 February 2004

ISAF

• At a change of command ceremony in Kabul Monday, German Lt. Gen. Gliemeroth handed over the ISAF flag to Canadian Lt. Gen. Rick Hillier, reports AFP. Earlier, Reuters quoted NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer saying Monday that the emergence of suicide bomb attacks on peacekeepers in Kabul shows that even the Afghan capital, where NATO’s forces are concentrated, is far from secure. Speaking to reporters on a U.S. military plane to Kabul, where he was due to attend the change of command ceremony, Mr. de Hoop Scheffer reportedly warned against letting Afghanistan slip to the status of a “second theater,” stressing: “The situation is fragile. It’s extremely difficult to have a 100 percent defense against these horrible suicide attacks.” The dispatch stressed that Gen. Jones is putting the finishing touches to a plan to expand the stabilizing influence of ISAF into far-flung provinces. It quoted Gen. Jones saying: “It’s really international credibility that is at stake here. Clearly, we are approaching a defining moment where political will must be matched by proper resources for it to be successful.”
  
  
• Washington and NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer are very pleased with the willingness expressed by the countries of the Eurocorps, at a Munich security conference over the weekend, to assume command of ISAF this summer, wrote Le Monde, Feb. 8. The article reported that the five Eurocorps countries confirmed their availability, but under certain conditions that Defense Minister Alliot-Marie summed up as follows: It must be a mandate strictly limited to six months; NATO must make its information and communication resources available to the Eurocorps and ISAF must remain within its current limits, geographic and in terms of equipment. The daily concluded that this last point means that according to Paris, the Eurocorps will not be responsible for new PRTs unless the military forces available to ISAF are substantially increased.

Focusing on the Munich Security Conference, several media echoed the remarks by NATO officials that NATO’s ability to follow through on the ISAF mission had become a crucial test for the Alliance. They also noted Gen. Jones’ remarks regarding the establishment of new PRTs.
In Munich Friday, Gen. Jones briefed the ministers on a plan to set up five new PRTs, writes the Washington Post, adding: “The briefing, according to one participant, provided ‘a certain amount of momentum’ that led the ministers of four countries—Britain, Italy, Turkey and Norway—to commit to leading one team each. A U.S. official said the Netherlands had also indicated it might head one.”
Gen. Jones told the conference the PRT’s overall figure could amount to 18, perhaps by the end of this year, some under NATO command, others under the U.S.-led operation Enduring Freedom, says a related article in the Financial Times.

Reports that Paris has reached an agreement on the participation of French generals to key positions linked to the establishment of the NRF are generating interest.
“France committed the most troops to the new NATO Response Force. Paris will send two top generals and 100 other officers to join NATO’s military staff. It considerably raised its budget contribution to the Alliance,” writes the Wall Street Journal. Noting that Defense Minister Alliot-Marie told the Munich meeting “France intends to be the motor of a revitalized NATO,” the newspaper observes that her remarks reflect new realism. “The French suddenly see that NATO is a multilateral security institution where Paris has a say. The French military, big on NATO, also quietly pushed the politicians to re-engage,” the daily stresses.
Le Figaro quotes NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer saying the decision to appoint a French admiral and a French general to key posts within NATO is a sign that NATO takes France’s contribution very seriously and vice versa.
Le Figaro, Feb. 7, wrote that the decision to give France two key positions within NATO, confirmed at the Munich conference, marks an historic turn in the relations between Paris and the Alliance. “The allies have accepted that a French admiral occupy a permanent position at Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk. Even more significant, a French general will integrate SHAPE headquarters, NATO’s military holy of holies, where operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and maybe soon Iraq are being planned and carried out,” stressed the newspaper. It added that the two officers will bring along about a hundred officers, which will bring to 1.5% the number of French military permanently assigned to NATO. “Without formally belonging to NATO’s integrated military command …, France is making a remarkable entry into NATO’s two military strategic structures,” stressed the newspaper.

MIDDLE EAST

• Ramallah Voice of Palestine reported that in a statement Monday, Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’th expressed the Palestinian National Authority’s support to an initiative by Foreign Minister Fischer calling for the participation of NATO in the peacekeeping process in the Middle East. A related Wall Street Journal article reports that U.S. officials who attended the Munich security conference believe they won important backing Saturday, when Foreign Minister Fischer proposed that the U.S. and the EU form a new trans-Atlantic initiative for the Middle East. “NATO is emerging as a central vehicle for efforts to rebuild the trans-Atlantic relations after Iraq, and figures increasingly in U.S. plans for the Mideast and Central Asia,” the newspaper comments. AFP claims that Fischer’s idea would seek to link the existing NATO Mediterranean dialogue with the EU’s Barcelona process. The former includes Israel, Egypt, Jordan and four North African states, while the latter adds Syria and Lebanon. NATO would offer a security partnership, while the Barcelona process is supposed to lay the foundations for economic partnership and a free trade area from 2010, notes the dispatch.

UNITED STATES-BASING

• The U.S. Navy said Friday it was considering moving its Sixth Fleet away from its base in Italy to Spain, reported The Guardian, Feb. 7. The newspaper quoted Spanish daily El Mundo saying Madrid officials had been told the Pentagon wanted to move the fleet’s headquarters and supply facilities to Rota, near Cadiz. The article noted that though Rota is further from the hot spots of the Middle East, it has the advantage of being a combined naval and air facility, offering the sort of rapid deployment capability that the U.S. military is now looking for.
  
  
• The Boston Globe, Feb. 8, quoted military officials in Stuttgart saying teams of American military specialists will begin scouting multiple sites in Poland, Bulgaria and Romania this week to evaluate their potential to host new U.S. land, sea and air installations. The newspaper noted that the surveying mission represents the latest stage of a plan by EUCOM to reposition its forces on the continent to more effectively fight the war on terrorism and better respond to other 21st century challenges. It quoted a senior U.S. official saying, on condition of anonymity: “There have not been any final decisions made yet, but 80 percent of the solution is there.” The article stressed, however, that officials point out that several hurdles remain before any decision is made, including ongoing consultations with NATO allies. It recalled that the idea of relocating U.S. forces in Europe has been discussed for years, and was officially made public in detail last March when Gen. Jones, in his capacity as EUCOM commander, announced a broad vision for restructuring the region. “Gen. Jones’ plan called for closing some bases in Germany and opening new facilities in southern and Eastern Europe, and possibly Africa, closer to perceived threats,” added the newspaper. AFP quotes Defense Minister Struck saying in Munich Friday the United States and Germany will cooperate closely on the future redeployment of U.S. troops and base closures in Germany. Decisions on when and where the U.S. troops based in Germany will go are expected to be made this year and then “carried out in a concerted manner,” he reportedly said, after talks with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.