Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

19 April 2004

NATO

• AFP reports Assistant NATO Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Gunther Altenburg told a news conference in Qatar Monday NATO plans to disclose in June a “Cooperation Initiative” between the Alliance and the Middle East. “The challenge we face is clear: can we design together with the countries in the region of the Middle East a similar policy of partnership and cooperation,” as notably with Russia, Altenburg reportedly asked, adding: “Can we come up with mechanisms of cooperation that provide real added value—both for NATO allies and for countries in the region? The region is undergoing a very profound process of development and transformation. So the question is can we create a positive momentum similar to the one we have been seeing across Europe? If there is a positive reaction … we would like to unveil at our Istanbul Summit in June a Cooperation Initiative that will open an entirely new chapter in the relationship between NATO and the Middle East region.” According to the dispatch, Altenburg said it was “entirely feasible to tailor our cooperation to the specific national or regional circumstances.” He stressed that NATO was not seeking to impose its ideas but to open “a two-way street.”

Coverage of a flag raising ceremony at SHAPE April 15 for seven new NATO members continued.
Bucharest’s Rompres, April 16, observed that Gen. Jones said one of the main concerns of the Romanian military body is the interoperability with the Euro-Atlantic structures. It added that speaking after the ceremony, Chief of the Romanian Army General staff, Gen. Popescu, pointed out that if from an operational viewpoint the Romanian troops made progress, from a technical viewpoint, the equipment should be changed. Gen. Popescu was also quoted saying Romania would have to participate, according to its new status, in all NATO theaters of operations. Sofia’s Khorizont radio, April 15, reported that after the ceremony, Gen. Kolev, chief of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army, said the new NATO members had been asked to increase their contingent in NATO operations, but Bulgaria was too committed with its participation in Iraq. “If Bulgaria does not give a positive reply to this request, its refusal would not be interpreted in a negative way,” the broadcast quoted Gen. Kolev saying.

ISAF

• According to Reuters, an ISAF spokesman told a news conference Monday that Afghan police and NATO-led peacekeepers had arrested eight Islamic militants with suspected links to Al Qaeda and a local radical faction fighting against foreign troops in Afghanistan. “This was a very effective operation that successfully removed from the streets of Kabul a number of people who were deemed to pose an imminent threat to security here in Afghanistan,” the spokesman reportedly said. The dispatch observes that the swoop was the second in a week by Afghan and NATO-led forces in Kabul.
  
  
• The six Dutch Apache combat helicopters that are currently operating in Kabul within the scope of ISAF will be allowed to extend their action radius around Kabul, wrote NRC Handelsblad, April 17. The cabinet accepted a proposal to this end by Defense Minister Kamp, the newspaper said, adding that the widening of the Apaches’ action radius is in line with a new operational plan that NATO has recently adopted. “NATO would also like to extend the operational area of ISAF to other regions of Afghanistan. The expansion of the operational area will be implemented in three stages,” the newspaper added.

IRAQ

• According to AP, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Warsaw Monday the pullout of Spanish troops from Iraq will mean changes to the multinational force, but Poland will not be able to make up the difference itself. “The decision puts a new challenge ahead of us because we have to continue to carry out tasks under our military obligations,” the spokesman reportedly said, adding, however, that “the Polish authorities do not plan to increase the Polish contingent.” The dispatch notes that in a statement Monday, Polish Gen. Bieniek, the commander of the multinational division, issued a statement in which he said the Spanish decision “does not affect the continuity of the division’s functioning.” A related BBC News broadcast quoted a correspondent in Madrid saying that according to military sources in the Spanish capital, the pullout was likely to take one or two months because of operational requirements.