Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

19 February 2004

NATO

• Moscow’s Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey quotes an unidentified Russian military diplomat claiming Thursday that “Russia and its armed forces are still the main object of NATO intelligence.” According to the report, the diplomat charged that “AWACS flights over Latvia and Lithuania, scheduled for Feb. 23-35, are another step in rendering operative compatibility to the BALTNET system with existing NATO intelligence systems.” This, the diplomat reportedly added, is intended to gathering more intelligence in Northern Europe. “First of all, NATO is interested in Russia and its armed forces,” he stressed.

ISAF

• According to AP, Defense Minister Gonul said Thursday Turkey was willing to consider requests to send troops into Afghanistan as NATO struggles to find nations to deploy peacekeeping forces there. Speaking during a meeting with NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer, Gonul reportedly said: “If NATO has new requests concerning Afghanistan, of course we would be open to considering them. As a NATO member, we have to be prepared to take on a reasonable amount of responsibility as do other members.”
  
  
• AFP reports ISAF Commander, Lt. Gen. Hillier, said in Kabul Wednesday he anticipated an early decision by NATO on whether it will expand further its troop movements in Afghanistan. Talking to Canadian reporters, Gen. Hillier reported said: “There might be an opportunity for NATO to take a greater role. I anticipate a (NATO) decision in the not—too-distant future.” According to the dispatch, he acknowledged that voter registration ahead of the election had so far been slow and admitted the election might have to be delayed. He added, however that there were plans to dispatch voter registration teams, of about 4,000 to 5,000 election officers, across the country in May. He said if this voter registration drive was successful, the presidential election could be held “three to four weeks later.”
  
  
• Taliban insurgents are waging a violent campaign in Afghanistan’s countryside to frighten people from cooperating with the U.S-based government and from taking part in elections scheduled for the summer, reports the New York Times. The newspaper notes that in Zormat, a district in southern Afghanistan, the police recently detained three men carrying Taliban leaflets warning people not to register for the vote. “You should not take an election registration card. If anyone does, his life will be in danger,” the leaflets reportedly say. They also call on people to fight against the government. According to the newspaper, the leaflets were discovered three weeks ago, and the three men were handed to the U.S. forces, but the message continues to circulate. The newspaper adds that according to residents, similar warnings have been going around the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand. The article continues: The UN plans to open 4,200 registration offices around the country in May for three weeks, and then to begin polling two weeks later. But without greater progress in combating the Taliban, officials fear, offices in the south and southeast could present potential targets. U.S. military officials have been meeting with the Afghan government and UN officials in Kabul in recent weeks on how to tackle the security problems. Diplomats said in Kabul this week that NATO countries would send extra peacekeeping troops during the voter registration and polling.

IRAQ

• In an interview with Le Figaro, Foreign Minister de Villepin spells out France’s position regarding a possible NATO involvement in Iraq. “NATO has already made significant contributions beyond its traditional sphere of influence It is present in Afghanistan. In Iraq, NATO is providing logistic support the Polish contingent,” de Villepin says and adds: “The question of a NATO involvement in Iraq must be seen in different terms. A certain number of conditions must be fulfilled. First, NATO can only be involved at the behest of an Iraqi government and with the prior agreement of the UN. Then, there is a question of principle: Would NATO’s arrival in the Middle East be a factor of stability or, on the contrary, a complicating factor. Great care is needed over what some countries in the region could regard as an act of aggression. Nothing would be worse than triggering a feeling of confrontation between the Arab world and our nations, between the West and Islam.”