Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

14 July 2004

NATO

• British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday pledged their countries would work together to bring stability to Bosnia and Afghanistan. Following a day-long summit in London, the two leaders said they had decided to set up a “steering group in order to coordinate joint planning of those leading responsibilities.” Britain has offered to lead the EU force in Bosnia and Italy has said it is willing to take command in late 2005. Italy is scheduled to lead the International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan in late 2005, and Britain has offered to “take the lead, through our leadership role in the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, in succeeding Italy in command of ISAF in early 2006,” the statement said. Also, the two countries already mount joint naval patrols in the Mediterranean to combat illegal migration and said they would “consider further maritime initiatives.” (AP 132116 Jul 04)
  
  
• The Czech Senate approved plans to send 100 anti-chemical warfare specialists to help guard the Athens Olympics. The Czechs will also provide security at the Paralympic Games in Athens from Sept. 17-28. (AP 131600 Jul 04)
  
  
• The United States has signalled interest in setting up sites in Poland as part of its proposed missile defence system, but Warsaw is awaiting a formal proposal from Washington before deciding whether to allow such facilities on its soil, a government spokesman said Tuesday in Warsaw. Foreign Ministry spokesman Boguslaw Majewski told The Associated Press that Washington informally broached the issue first late last year with Polish officials, but only in “very general” terms. It was not clear whether the United States was interested in Poland as a site for ground-based interceptor missiles or for something related, like a radar installation. Grzegorz Holdanowicz, editor of defence magazine, Raport, warned that the talks were still at a preliminary stage and were unlikely to ever result in actual sites in Poland. (AP 131545 Jul 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• U.S. forces in Afghanistan have begun a military operation aimed at providing security for the October presidential election amid vows by the Taliban to disrupt the voting process and a threat posed by rogue militias, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Thousands of U.S. troops are participating in Operation Lightning Resolve leading up to the landmark presidential balloting scheduled for October 9. An Afghan official said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was due in Afghanistan later this week. (Reuters 132103 GMT Jul 04)
  
  
• Two-thirds of Afghans are optimistic about the direction their country is headed but insecurity and the wrecked economy gnaw at their optimism, a survey, commissioned by the Asia Foundation, a U.S.-based non-government group trying to foster development in the Asia-Pacific region showed on Tuesday. A majority also approved interim leader Hamid Karzai according to the poll, billed as the widest yet on Afghan views. Pollsters didn’t reach four of 34 provinces because of poor security or access. (AP 131204 Jul 04)