Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

10 February 2004

ISAF

• The head of NATO warned on Monday that security remains fragile in Afghanistan, even in the capital. As command of the NATO-led security force passed to Canada, President Karzai thanked the troops for helping revive Afghanistan. But he also appealed for more help amid UN warnings that drug lords could turn the country into a “narco-state.” NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accompanied by Supreme Allied Commander Gen. James L. Jones and other top NATO officials visited Kabul for talks with President Karzai as the alliance prepares to expand into the country’s lawless provinces. Mr. De Hoop Scheffer listed counter-narcotics as one of the prime challenges still facing the country, but said it was “not the prime responsibility” of ISAF. (AP 091720 Feb 04)

ESDP

• Britain and France are to create joint rapid-reaction military units as part of a strategy to beef up Europe’s defence, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Tuesday. The paper said the plan would be unveiled to European Union chiefs later this week. Britain’s Ministry of Defence said the report was speculative and declined to comment further. Under the Anglo-French bid, units of 1,500 troops, operating under the United Nations if needed, could be ready within 15 days for all terrain missions that would last no more than one month, the Financial Times said. London and Paris want the plan accepted by all member states by the time the Irish EU presidency ends and troops to be available by 2007. Diplomats told the paper the troops would not compete with NATO but could use NATO resources. (Reuters 100224 GMT Feb 04)

BALKANS

• KFOR took a major step toward reducing the number of troops on Monday, announcing a plan to reorganize its operations here. The reorganization was prompted in part by an improved security situation in the province, said Brig. Gen. Braennstroem, the Swedish commander in charge of central part of Kosovo. The final aim is to make the mission smaller and centralized. (AP 091635 Feb 04)

IRAQ

• Turkey’s foreign minister said Monday that his country would participate in a NATO-led stabilization mission in Iraq. “Naturally, Turkey will take part in actions undertaken by NATO,” said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. He was in Warsaw for talks with his Polish counterpart Cimoszewicz. Foreign Minister Cimoszewicz said that he would like the NATO summit in Istanbul in June to decide that the alliance joins U.S.-led efforts to stabilize Iraq. (AP 091547 Feb 04)
  
  
• A militant Islamist who the U.S has described as an associate of bin Laden has plotted a series of attacks in Iraq aimed at provoking a civil war, the U.S.-led occupation authority said. Brigadier-General Kimmitt said U.S. forces had seized a computer disc that contained a letter outlining the plan written by Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Washington suspects of links to Ansar al-Islam. “The document...talks about a strategy of provoking violence targeted at the Shia, the Shia leaders in the hope that it would provoke reprisals against other ethnic groups in the country,” the chief spokesman for Iraq’s U.S. governor said. (Reuters 091927 GMT Feb 04)

U.S ARMY

• U.S. Army soldiers stationed in the U.S. will spend at least six years at one base, double the current stint, as part of a policy announced on Monday intended to reduce the needless shifting of forces and improve their readiness for overseas combat. Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, director of military personnel policy called the changes especially important given that the Army had become “clearly a more expeditionary force.” U.S. soldiers stationed abroad are unaffected. (Reuters 092130 GMT Feb 04)