Military

News Summary & Analysis

2 July 2004

AFGHANISTAN

• AFP reports a British team of soldiers commanded by the U.S.-led coalition officially handed over their station in northern Afghanistan to NATO troops on Thursday . The dispatch notes that the ceremony, in the main northern city of Mazar-I-Sharif, marks the first expansion of ISAF following the Istanbul summit. The NATO expansion is part of a plan to move international peacekeepers out of the capital and beyond Kunduz ahead of the polls, stresses the dispatch.
• According to Reuters , Defense Minister Bono said Thursday Spain plans to roughly double its peacekeepers in Afghanistan to a maximum of 1,040, unless Parliament objects. Spain's Parliament is reportedly due to vote next week on the proposal, which would cost 54 million euros. Under the plan, Spain would pull its 217 troops out of the U.S.-led multinational Operation Enduring Freedom, but increase its commitment to medical operations by setting up a field hospital near Kabul. It would also send an infantry battalion with armored vehicles to police elections in September, after which these troops would return home , the dispatch says. "By the end of the year, that is to say once the elections are over, the number of troops will be back down to 540 or practically the same as our contingent at the moment," Bono reportedly said.
• According to foreign and Afghan officials in Kabul, writes the International Herald Tribune , Afghanistan's national elections, already postponed for three months until September, will now slip until mid-October for logistical and political reasons. The dispatch adds that foreign officials working on the elections said it was generally understood the poll would now be held in mid-October. According to the newspaper, there is also intensive discussion in Kabul over whether to postpone parliamentary elections until next year as violence mounts, and the disarmament of militias and warlords has faltered. UN officials and diplomats are reportedly concerned that without more disarmament of the warlords and their militias, there will be gross intimidation and interference in an early election, especially for parliamentary seats.

In the wake of the Istanbul summit, commentators continue to discuss NATO's future role.

An editorial in Rotterdam's NRC Handelsblad calls for a further revitalization of the Alliance. It says: "In 2004, the Alliance is proving to have remarkable vitality. NATO is active as a troubleshooter and peacekeeper in a number of former war zones which would probably not have managed without its support-Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. At the Istanbul summit, the conclusion was that operations in Afghanistan and Iraq should be expanded.. A greater role for NATO is desirable, although it is necessary to guard against imperial overstretch. The organization has the people, the means and the knowledge which are needed for carrying out peacekeeping operations. The reconstruction of Iraq will benefit from internationalization-the Alliance's main characteristic.. Political will often comes with time. NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer will have to maintain the momentum which the Istanbul summit created.. NATO's missions show that NATO is alive, but the difficult debate on assistance for Afghanistan and Iraq shows that the NATO members too often disagree, react sparingly, and sometimes simply do not have the military means to respond adequately to current conflict situations. Hence the life support for NATO must be continued in the form of modernization of the armed forces, investment in political will, and the fulfillment of obligations. The designation 'Alliance' should be taken literally."

Highlighting divisions at the summit regarding Iraq and a possible deployment of the NRF in Afghanistan, the Financial Times stresses that whatever the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections, U.S. and European leaders need to sit down after November to the fundamental strategic discussions they have studiously avoided since Sept. 11, 2001. "Washington will have to reassess the worth of ad hoc coalitions against fixed alliances, and of legitimacy against unfettered discretion. European nations will have to ask themselves whether they can remain spectators in an ever more dangerous world," the daily insists.

NATO-OLYMPICS

• Greece launched an Olympic security sweep Thursday, sending in more than 10,000 police to protect sports venues, transport centers and hotels around Athens at the start of what will be one of the world's biggest anti-terrorist operations since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, reports The Guardian . According to the newspaper, Public Order Minister Voulgarakis said, after talks with Gen. Jones in Athens Thursday: "For us the Olympic Games start today . not only for the police, but for all army and coastguard personnel involved in the operation. We'll gradually enforce the security plan until mid-July, when we will have 100 percent implementation." A related article posted on the English-language web site of Greek daily Kathimerini notes that on Thursday, Voulgarakis discussed NATO security aid during the Olympics with Gen. Jones .
• The Liberec-based multinational NATO rapid-reaction unit has completed its necessary training ahead of the Olympic Games , according to its commander, Col. Vratislav Osvald. The unit prepared for what is expected to be a two-month mission of ensuring the safety of the summer Olympics in Athens, reported Prague's CTK , July 1. The provision of up to 100 Czech soldiers to Greece for the mission has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies, and will be voted on by the Senate on July 13 , stressed the dispatch.

TERRORISM

• Reuters reports an Arabic-language newspaper reported Friday that an Al Qaeda-linked group had vowed to renew attacks on Europe and urged Moslems to flee once Osama bin Laden's three-month truce ends on July 15 . "To the European people . you only have a few more days to accept bin Laden's truce or you will only have yourselves to blame," said the statement purported to be from Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the march 11 train bombing in Spain. The dispatch notes that Al Qaeda leader bin Laden, in an audiotape on April 15, extended a truce to Europeans if they withdrew troops from Moslem nations. It was reportedly not immediately possible to verity the authenticity of the statement, parts of which were published by the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper Friday.