[A-List] Afghanistan: 30, 000 Western Troops To Be Subsumed Under NATO Command

["tony black" <tal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Rick Rozoff
To: Rick Rozoff
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 12:02 PM
Subject: [stopnato] Afghanistan: 30,000 Western Troops To Be Subsumed Under
NATO Command


http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/09/b9833987-682a-4f2a-a1d0-ed5f544c2af4.html


Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 1, 2005


Afghanistan: NATO Looks To Expand Mission After
September Elections
By Ron Synovitz


-The NATO deployments completed this week - involving
troops mostly from Spain, Romania, and the Netherlands
- take the total number of alliance troops in
Afghanistan to 11,000. The alliance also has backing
from increased air power.
-A separate contingent of about 20,000 troops - the
U.S.-led combat force on the ground as part of
Operation Enduring Freedom - is in charge of
bolstering security in the south and east of
Afghanistan....
-Significantly, Jones said that NATO is now planning
for the eventual takeover of....U.S.-led combat
operations - possibly within the next year."Operation
Enduring Freedom and ISAF will eventually merge and
become one mission."
"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization says that
Afghanistan is its No. 1 mission. And it remains
committed to that statement," Jones said.


The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) has completed the deployment of an additional
2,000 troops to support Afghanistan's upcoming
parliamentary elections.

With a total of 11,000 troops across the country, ISAF
is now larger and more widely deployed than it has
ever been during nearly four years of UN-backed
political reforms known as the Bonn Process. In
addition, NATO's top commander says the alliance is
now planning for an expanded role that would merge
UN-mandated security assistance with U.S.-led combat
operations.


Prague - NATO's top commander, U.S. General James
Jones, says the alliance is now "correctly poised and
sized" for its security mission during Afghanistan's
parliamentary elections on 18 September.

Jones completed a two-day visit to Afghanistan
yesterday that included security talks with President
Hamid Karzai. Jones told reporters after those talks
that NATO - the leader of the UN-mandated
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan - already is looking beyond the
parliamentary vote.

"Not only will it be concerned with the security of
the parliamentary elections that are coming up in
September, but it will also be the transitional period
in which NATO continues its expanded mission in
Afghanistan," Jones said.

The NATO deployments completed this week - involving
troops mostly from Spain, Romania, and the Netherlands
- take the total number of alliance troops in
Afghanistan to 11,000. The alliance also has backing
from increased air power. Jones said the strength of
ISAF should be sufficient to guarantee security in
Kabul and in the northern and western regions of
Afghanistan that are under NATO's security umbrella.

As with the Afghan presidential election last October,
the primary responsibility for security at the polling
stations lies with Afghanistan's own security forces -
the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National
Police. But Jones said the NATO troops will be close
by in the north and west with ground forces and air
support if necessary.

A separate contingent of about 20,000 troops - the
U.S.-led combat force on the ground as part of
Operation Enduring Freedom - is in charge of
bolstering security in the south and east of
Afghanistan, where fighting with Taliban and Al-Qaeda
militants continues.

The coalition has launched a series of military
offensives in the south and east of the country since
the start of spring this year, focusing on Taliban and
Al-Qaeda militants who have vowed to disrupt the
ballot. Militants have also increased their attacks on
coalition troops - as well as civilian contractors and
Afghan election workers, parliamentary candidates, and
moderate clerics.

About 1,000 people have been killed in the surge of
violence this year. Most have been suspected militants
or Afghan civilians, but about 50 U.S. soldiers have
died in combat since the spring thaw.

Significantly, Jones said that NATO is now planning
for the eventual takeover of those U.S.-led combat
operations - possibly within the next year."Operation
Enduring Freedom and ISAF will eventually merge and
become one mission."

"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization says that
Afghanistan is its No. 1 mission. And it remains
committed to that statement," Jones said. "It intends
to be faithful to that statement by expanding the
mission even further during the course of the next
year to such a point that Operation Enduring Freedom
and ISAF will eventually merge and become one mission.
It will bring a new vitality and a new agility to this
effort. And Afghanistan will be all the better for
it."

Such a move could free up U.S. troops in Afghanistan
for deployment to Iraq. But France and Germany have
previously expressed doubts about the idea of merging
UN-mandated security assistance with U.S.-led combat
operations.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the issue has
been discussed in recent months by defense ministers
from NATO countries. The NATO spokesman said the issue
will certainly be raised again when alliance defense
ministers gather in Berlin in mid-September.

"This meeting does come at a good time to allow
ministers to reflect, in a more political way, on some
of the very important issues on their agenda,"
Appathurai said. "For example, they will want to look
at the long-term future for NATO in Afghanistan as
part of the international community's efforts to
support the Karzai government once we have moved
beyond what is called the Bonn Process. In other
words, once the district and provincial elections have
taken place, the international community will want a
new approach that will, of course, take into account
the issue of narcotics."

Appathurai said no formal decisions will be taken in
Berlin because it is an informal meeting meant to
allow ministers to discuss their political
perspectives.

The European Union also is concerned about the future
role of international troops and government aid
workers in Afghanistan. EU External Relations
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said it is
"crucial" for the international community to stay
engaged in Afghanistan after the elections.

In a statement issued yesterday, Ferrero-Waldner said
a new "post-Bonn compact" is needed between
Afghanistan and the international community to ensure
that both sides maintain their commitments in the
years to come.

Ferrero-Waldner is due to meet with Karzai in Kabul
next week for talks expected to include the issue of a
"post-Bonn" agreement.

(RFE/RL Afghan Service correspondent Freshta Jalalzai
contributed to this report from Kabul.)




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