Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

25 June 2004

NATO-SUMMIT

• A small bomb exploded Thursday on a crowded public bus in Istanbul killing four people and wounding at least 14, as security officials prepared to close off swaths of the city in advance of the NATO summit meeting on Monday, writes the International Herald Tribune. Turkish security forces have been especially active in the last few weeks preparing for the two-day summit, which has already provoked a handful of anti-NATO and anti-American demonstrations across Turkey, notes the paper. Turkey, which hopes the NATO meeting will prove a showcase for its aspirations to join the EU, has invested close to 40 million dollars to spruce up the parks and streets of Istanbul and to provide security, adds the daily. A related AFP dispatch reports that the White House said “nothing has changed” in the schedule for President Bush, who is to have talks with Turkish officials in Ankara on Sunday and then travel to Istanbul for the summit. Istanbul governor Muammer Guler pointed the finger of blame at a leftwing group but suggested the explosives went off accidentally as they were being carried in the lap of a woman passenger who was among the dead, continues the report. Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin reportedly said after the bomb explosion outside an Ankara hotel where President Bush is expected to stay Saturday, security measures would be stepped up further.

IRAQ

• According to AFP news agency, June 24, NATO leaders could agree next week to help train Iraqi security forces in response to a request from Iraq’s interim leader. NATO Secretary de Hoop Scheffer, who confirmed that he received a letter from Prime Minister Allawi, asked whether the training could occur inside or outside of Iraq, reportedly replied: “Both are possible.” In general, observes the dispatch, he stressed that NATO would be physically able to provide support, if a political decision were taken to do so. “If the allies were in agreement … NATO could do it,” he allegedly said. The Secretary General, adds the report, said NATO leaders will discuss Iraq over lunch on Monday and underlined the significance of the June 30 handover of sovereignty from the U.S.-led coalition to a sovereign Iraqi leadership. He was quoted saying: “From the last day of June we need a different mindset. It is now the Iraqi interim government which … holds the key, to ask what they want to ask.” The news agency also added that Washington does not expect NATO to send troops to Iraq, noting that 16 Alliance states already have a military presence in the country. Reporting that Germany is willing to train officers in the new Iraqi army but will not send its own personnel to Iraq, the dispatch suggests that a possible obstacle to a NATO agreement could come from France, which on Thursday emphasized members would have to discuss further any role the Alliance may take in Iraq at the Istanbul summit. The New York Times, in a similar article, writes that the White House challenged skeptical NATO members Thursday to provide security training and equipment for the government in Baghdad and suggested that Muslim states were willing to offer assistance as well. In Rome, continues the daily, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said many countries, including his, were available to train police and security forces. “Italy strongly supports Allawi’s request and is ready to say yes.”

ISAF

• NATO’s top military commander Gen. James Jones, writes AFP, expressed confidence Friday over plans to expand an Alliance peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. But speaking to reporters en route to Kabul, observes the report, he lashed out at NATO member states for dragging their feet over contributing to expand ISAF and also warned of a flare up of violence ahead of much-delayed elections in the country set for September. Gen. Jones reportedly confirmed plans for the 6,500-strong peacekeeping force to run “at least five” so-called civil-military Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) outside the capital. “We are making good progress. Our goal is within a few days to be able to report to … the summit how we are progressing,” he was quoted as saying. But, comments the dispatch, he conceded that NATO has struggled to muster the resources and reported him saying: “We still have some shortfalls in Kabul. We’re hoping that those will be filled in the next few days as well so that ultimately the whole project will come together … right around the summit.” Furthermore, notes the agency, his message to NATO countries reluctant to provide resources was: “The Alliance must develop a better system for, having identified a political ambition, to also identify political willingness to provide the resources…. A vision without resources is a hallucination, we’ve simply got to do better than that.” The news agency concludes that he also issued a warning about the run-up to the planned September polls: “There are going to be people in Afghanistan that unfortunately are going to want to make a statement before the elections.” Meanwhile Reuters carries an appeal of Human Rights Watch which charged that NATO “foot-dragging” had contributed to a worsening security situation in the country and more military support was needed to protect voter registration and independent election candidates in the September poll. The appeal, notes the report, came as President Karzai met Gen. Jones in Kabul ahead of the Istanbul summit. In Istanbul, argues the agency, NATO is to announce that its 6,400-strong peacekeeping force will take command of four or five PRTs in northern Afghanistan and deploy about 1,200 troops for the poll, but this will fall short of the at least 5,000 extra troops the UN and the Afghan government have estimated will be needed.
  
  
• In an interview with AFP, ISAF commander Lt. Gen. Hillier reportedly said war in Iraq and an increase in the number of foreigners murdered in Afghanistan have made the international community hesitant to commit peacekeeping troops for the country. He also allegedly said he does not have enough soldiers to carry out his duties in the northern provinces. “Of course the Iraq… (conflict) has taken huge numbers of soldiers and huge investment from the international community which therefore is not available to come here,” he was quoted saying. He reportedly concluded stating: “I will say there is a significant capacity in NATO and more than enough to meet the demand here.”

NATO-OLYMPICS

• NATO has given the green light to reinforce security for the Athens Olympic Games through a range of means including surveillance aircraft, NATO Secretary General said Thursday, according to AFP, June 24. “This assistance does not mean NATO is now in charge of security during the Olympics…. NATO is of course supporting the Greek efforts,” he reportedly pointed out.