Afghanistan Tops NATO Defense Minister's Agenda, Rumsfeld Says
28 September 2006
Alliance members pledge more support to Afghanistan, plan for Riga Summit
Washington – Taliban forces gravely underestimated the resolve of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
“The enemy obviously decided that once NATO came in, NATO would be a soft touch,” Rumsfeld said at a news conference during a September 28 informal meeting of NATO defense ministers in Portoroz, Slovenia. “And so they went after NATO, and they were surprised. NATO was not soft; NATO was hard. And NATO pushed them back, and they didn't like it.” (See related article.)
Ongoing security operations in Afghanistan figured prominently in discussions at the meeting, the last before the gathering of NATO heads of state in Riga, Latvia, November 28-29. (See related article.)
On the heels of the alliance’s successful completion of Operation Medusa, which dealt a significant blow to Taliban remnants in southern Afghanistan’s Khandahar province, Rumsfeld praised the alliance’s commitment, noting that several NATO ministers came to the table with offers of additional arms and ammunition for the Afghan army and additional troops to augment the NATO mission. (See related article.)
The defense ministers also approved ISAF’s expansion into eastern Afghanistan, which when completed, will give the alliance nationwide control of security operations in the country. Rumsfeld called the decision “a bold step forward for this alliance,” which he said would bring 12,000 additional U.S. troops under NATO’s command.
Other items on the ministers’ agenda, the secretary said, include troop allocations for the NATO Response Force, building the alliance’s strategic airlift capability, development of special operations forces and a new Middle East training initiative.
Reflecting back on his service as a U.S. ambassador to NATO from 1973-1974, Rumsfeld considered how far the alliance has come from the days of the Cold War. Among the alliance’s members today are representatives from former Soviet satellites, he said. While in Slovenia, Rumsfeld also will be meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, in a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.
He said NATO arguably is the most successful military alliance in history. “I have no doubt that if NATO and its members muster the political will to make the necessary adjustments and investments, we will be able to successfully deal with challenges of this new era.”
“I believe the past few years have represented a similar juncture in history,” Rumsfeld said, “where we're at the end of the Cold War and in the initial phases of the 21st century, and what will prove to be a long struggle against violent extremism and a range of very complex, derivative and asymmetrical challenges, such as the opportunity we have today to modernize and transform our institutions, including NATO.”
For additional information, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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