Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

21 May 2004

AFGHANISTAN

• Landmark elections in September will be protected by as many as 24,000 newly trained police, but Afghanistan's Interior Minister has said that help will still be needed from foreign and Afghan troops, writes AP . "The police will provide security to the extent it can. At the same time, the international community, the Ministry of Defense have made commitments to fill in the gaps," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali was reported saying after talks with his German counterpart. German Interior Minister Otto Schily, continues the dispatch, presented Mr. Jalali with dozens of new police vehicles. The Afghan government, adds the agency, aims to have 50,000 police by the end of next year, including special counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism units, and another 12,000 border police by the end of 2006. The U.S. is training Afghanistan's new national army, which currently numbers about 10,000, concludes the report.

In the wake of a recent media trend, the International Herald Tribune reports NATO's Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer's warning, on Tuesday to a close-door meeting of NATO representatives, that the Alliance had failed to commit sufficient resources to underwrite its new Afghan mission and was flirting with failure. The daily writes that the shortfall for the operation includes several utility helicopters, a few Hercules transport planes, a medical facility and a quick reaction force to help protect troops who are in danger. The daily comments that although NATO has more than 2,000 helicopters, about half of which are possessed by its European members, "political will and a common view of the Alliance's priorities seem to be in the shortest supply." NATO's initial goal, observes the daily, was to assume responsibility for northern and western Afghanistan by the time of the Alliance's summit in Istanbul in late June; now, considered the gap between what is required to accomplish the mission and the assets pledged, NATO hopes to start with just the north. NATO is developing a new response force, notes the article, and Allied officials say Gen. Jones believes that some elements of that response force could be used in Afghanistan, although there was no unanimity on this idea at the meeting. However, even if NATO manages to obtain the necessary equipment and personnel, argues the paper in conclusion, its difficulty in finding the needed resources has raised questions about how willing it is to meet its new security agenda.

IRAQ

• In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, published Friday and echoed by AFP , Chancellor Schröder reportedly said he would speak clearly against any attempt to use NATO forces in Iraq at NATO Summit in Istanbul next month. Germany, he was quoted saying, would not go so far to block a NATO role in Iraq if a majority of the Alliance's members wanted it, but he also added: "The problem will be that NATO would find itself in the same situation as the coalition forces are in now with regard to the confidence that the Iraqis have in these forces as guarantors of security and stability. I would be very grateful if people would understand my doubts as to whether NATO really can play such a positive role as they seem to think and will make no secret of these doubts in Istanbul." Furthermore, the Chancellor was quoted as saying: "I personally do not desire this and I wouldn't have any support for it in Germany, no legitimacy for such a step, regardless of whether I myself wanted it or not." However, despite his opposition to a possible NATO involvement, he allegedly said a broad agreement had emerged on the future steps to be taken in Iraq, including the transfer of authority to an interim Iraqi government on June 30 and a UN resolution recognizing that government, writes the paper.
• According to the Washington Times , Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri told journalist yesterday his country would consider sending troops to Iraq after the U.S. transfer power June 30, but only if the request comes from a new, independent Iraqi government that is truly free of American control. The foreign minister is quoted as saying: "We would like to help the people of Iraq if the situation developed where Iraqis were asking for our help." Mr. Kasuri, who met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, reportedly said: "If we go in, in response to a U.S. request, we would be regarded as American stooges in the eyes of our own people." He also added that Mr. Powell "only hinted" at a possible Pakistani mission in Iraq, but that Islamabad's decision would hinge solely on whether real power was transferred to Iraqis and the UN was given a central role in the political transition.