Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, center, walks between U.S. President George W. Bush, right, and French President Jacques Chirac after a group photo at a NATO summit in Riga, Wednesday Nov. 29, 2006.
Photo: AP
|
 |
NATO Evades Afghan Call-Up
The NATO summit ended in Riga yesterday. The official focus of the event was Afghanistan. The NATO leaders didn’t appear very enthusiastic about the call of U.S. President George W. Bush to send more troops there. But they were obviously pleased to announce creation of rapid reaction force.
The pledge of the NATO leaders in Riga was to stay the course in Afghanistan despite mounting casualties and continued refusal of some governments to send their troops into combat in the most dangerous regions.
When it comes to Afghanistan, the tensions of NATO root in the troops’ disposition. The soldiers of Germany, Spain, Italy and France are stationed in relatively peaceful northern Afghanistan, while the military of the United States, Britain, Canada and Holland cover the southern part of the country, which is the actual stronghold of Taliban.
During the summit, U.S. President George W. Bush urged the NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan and redeploy some of the forces from north to south. The leaders agreed as a whole and promised support. Germany even yielded to redeployment, not under the permanent basis though. But Italy said its 1,900 soldiers will remain in the north and France won’t send military outside Kabul.
Moreover, the leaders announced creation of rapid reaction force, which strength will amount to 25,000. The target to attain is to ensure military response to crises worldwide on short notice.
And last but not least. NATO decided to invite Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia to join its Partnership for Peace Program. Previously, these states hadn’t been admitted there because of the lack of cooperation with The Hague Tribunal on former Yugoslavia.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 30, 2006
|
|
|
