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Wednesday, November 29 2006 @ 07:14 AM Central Standard Time
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Concerns about the NATO mission in Afghanistan are very much overshadowing the summit in Riga, Latvia, the Alliance’s first high-level meeting in a former Soviet republic.
The dangerous security situation in southern Afghanistan, let alone the pace reconstruction efforts, where a resurgent Taliban are regaining power, are making members countries think twice about contributing more to the mission.
There are concerns over the share of the workload, who is carrying out dangerous missions and assignments. Not all of the Alliance’s members are deployed in the volatile south of the country.
Despite no official request from NATO to Turkey, the second largest army in the Alliance, commanders in Afghanistan would definitely appreciate more Turkish troops, reporters said.
Calls from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO Secretary-General, and General James Jones who leads NATO forces, to member countries for a larger commitment in Afghanistan were supported by George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
Scheffer chided member countries, saying there was no excuse for failing to meet even 20 percent of NATO’s troop needs in southern Afghanistan.
Scheffer then pressed France, Germany, Italy and Spain for a deployment of more troops.
NATO has to count on its military operation in Afghanistan to save both its reputation and global security from damage, Blair said.
Bush, who ordered the military operation in Afghanistan in 2001, called on the NATO members to send more troops to Afghanistan.
Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the Latvian President, lashed out at the reluctant member countries when he said that the NATO forces were not in Afghanistan as “guests or tourists.”
Additional Turkish troops might be sent to the north, and troops from different nations might be moved to the south to bolster operations there, NATO sources said.
But the Turkish government is unwilling to send more troops, even to northern Afghanistan.
Erdogan meets with Bush
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with President Bush on Tuesday in Riga.
The topic of conversation ranged from Palestine and Israel to Iraq, from Lebanon to Syria, reporters said.
Erdogan will meet today with the prime ministers of Italy, Britain and Spain.
In the afternoon, Erdogan will first meet with Vike-Freiberga, then with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac. |
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