Nato to discuss possible reforms
Nato defence ministers will this week consider the future of an alliance which has evolved into a global trouble-shooter whose missions include patrolling Afghanistan, backing African peacekeepers in Sudan and shipping humanitarian relief to the United States.
While Nato’s role has been transformed, its commanders are concerned that many of the alliance’s military and civilian structures remain rooted in the Cold War past.
They want ministers meeting in Berlin tomorrow to speed up the overhaul of their military, creating more rapid-reaction forces like the prototype Nato Response Force.
That force is due to be fully operational next year, but already dispatches ships to the United States to carry European aid to Americans hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will present guidelines on how he thinks the alliance should modernise over the next decade.
De Hoop Scheffer is “looking forward to a lively political debate about how to ensure Nato remains a robust military alliance,” said John Colston, the alliance secretary general for defence policy and planning.
“He will want to see clear guidance from ministers on what they want Nato to be able to do militarily in the future,” Colston said at alliance headquarters in Brussels.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to thank his European counterparts for their Katrina relief aid at the start of their two day meeting in the German capital.
The opening session is scheduled to include “brainstorming” on the alliance’s future, while Wednesday is set aside for talk on ongoing missions.
Central to that debate are plans to expand Nato’s peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.
The alliance has agreed to widen its operation from the northern and western regions where it currently supports the fragile government of western-backed President Hamid Karzai, into the more volatile south and east.
However, differences remain over how the expanded Nato force will operate with the separate, US-led combat mission to flush out holdouts of the Taliban regime and their al-Qaida allies.
Germany has ruled out merging the two operations. “There is a clear ‘no’ from us to that,” said Defence Minister Peter Struck. “That would double the threat to our soldiers and also worsen the atmosphere in Afghanistan.”
Instead, Nato commanders are working on a formula that would bring the two operations under a single command, hoping to create a “synergy” to save costs and make the mission more effective.
“Ministers are looking at options which would allow the conduct of two complementary missions to go ahead under single leadership,” Colston said.
Mindful of German sensitivities, Nato officials expect final decisions over the linking of the missions – which is expected late next year – will have to wait until after German general elections on Sunday.
Ministers will also discuss Iraq, where Nato is trying to muster several hundred extra troops to protect alliance military instructors who expected to open a training academy for Iraqi officers outside Baghdad in the coming weeks.
The meeting will wrap up on Wednesday after lunch with Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov.
