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SHAPE
News Summary & Analysis
27
February 2004
ISAF
- After
only three weeks as commander of ISAF, Lt. Gen. Hillier
has identified the challenges facing the Alliance,
writes the Financial Times. One, he reportedly said,
is “harmonizing” the different agencies so that
ISAF can carry out its mandate. The article stresses
that there are more than 1,500 non-governmental organizations
in Afghanistan. It also notes that ISAF’s main task
is to provide security to Kabul and eventually create five
PRTs to extend government authority beyond the capital. But,
it adds, while NATO’s top commanders had hoped the PRTs
would be established well before next June’s elections,
so they could help register 10.5 million eligible voters,
so far only one, led by Germany, has been set. The article
stresses, however, that Gen. Hillier is clear that low voter
registration would have an impact on creating a stable Afghanistan.
“You can’t do an election if you don’t have
the right ethnic and racial mix and balance,” he is
quoted saying. Another NATO/ISAF task, Gen.
Hillier reportedly said, is to “demobilize,
demilitarize and reintegrate” (DDR) the militias that
had opposed the Taliban. Noting that Gen. Hillier
says security and DDR are linked, the newspaper quotes him
saying: “The DDR is one of the fundamental pillars
for providing security. This means establishing a new army
and police. There has to be synchronization. If you disarm
the militias without at the same time building up the police,
it might not be effective.” The article also remarks
that while Britain is trying to crack down on the narcotics
trade and some NATO diplomats suggest the Alliance should
become involved, “Gen. Hillier is adamantly against
this.” The newspaper quotes him saying: “NATO
would absolutely never be used to burn a poppy field….
There is no short-term solution to this problem. The ratio
between reward and risk has to be changed. Those involved
in narcotics get big rewards. It does not carry certain risks.”
- According
to AFP, Afghanistan Friday signed an agreement to
rebuild Kabul’s International Airport with the assistance
of NATO and the international community. Afghan Foreign
Minister Abdullah reportedly signed a letter of understanding,
accepting offers of assistance from NATO, the World Bank,
the international Civil Aviation Organization and other agencies
in completing work estimated to cost between $40 and 60 million.
TERRORISM
- The
Financial Times quotes Greek Defense Minister Papantoniou
saying in an interview that Greece is planning
the biggest sporting security operation in history for the
Athens Olympics, with almost 100,000 troops and police on
alert and ships from the U.S. 6th Fleet patrolling offshore.
The article adds that in an emerging picture of the full extent
of the military might needed to protect the Games, Papantoniou
maintains even more resources will be required, with logistical
details still to be finalized. “The precise
cooperation with NATO hasn’t been finalized yet, but
there’s an understanding that the Alliance would be
on standby for any kind of emergency,” the
newspaper quotes Papantoniou saying. According to the newspaper,
he said current plans provide for a NATO rapid reaction
force to remain on standby outside Greece during the summer,
while the Italian and Turkish navies would patrol in the Ionian
and Aegean. Ships from the U.S. 6th fleet would also cruise
within easy reach of Athens. “The principle is that
inside Greece there will just be Greek forces inside to protect
the games, but that forces from other NATO countries will
be on alert to supplement our efforts,” he
reportedly stressed.
GREATER MIDDLE
EAST INITIATIVE
- A
U.S. proposal for the world’s industrial nations to
press jointly for sweeping economic, political and cultural
changes in the Middle East has drawn criticism from Arab leaders
and European officials, who say the Bush administration
has not consulted sufficiently with the countries it seeks
to change, writes the International Herald Tribune. The article
recalls that the Bush administration has begun circulating
a lengthy draft of a paper it hopes to have adopted when the
leading industrial nations hold a summit meeting in June.
It adds, however that President Mubarak of Egypt joined recently
with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to insist that
changes in the region must come from within, not imposed from
the outside. The newspaper stresses that European officials
are making a different criticism, focused more on the fact
that since last year, the EU has adopted its own initiative
to encourage democratic institutions in the Middle East. “American
officials say they have no intention of absorbing the European
initiative, but their hope is that the European initiative
and the U.S. initiative can be put together under one large
umbrella under the heading of a Greater Middle East Initiative,”
the newspaper observes.
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