04 December 2009

Washington — Additional military forces, enhanced support for training Afghan security forces, and added civilian assistance will help keep Afghanistan from ever again becoming a terrorist safe haven and reverse the Taliban’s momentum, says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

These initiatives taken together strengthen the capacity of the Afghans to take responsibility for their own security, Clinton said December 4 at the North Atlantic Council meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, according to press reports.

NATO foreign ministers and representatives from nations participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan met at NATO headquarters to discuss their current commitments to the mission, and to answer a call for additional forces.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark told reporters at a press briefing that at least 25 countries have announced they will send approximately 7,000 additional forces to the Afghan mission in 2010. Rasmussen did not elaborate on the precise breakdown of the additional troop commitments.

In total, 44 nations are participating in the ISAF mission with varying commitments of troops and police trainers, who often provide a range of assistance missions from actual combat to police training.

“Nations are backing up their words with deeds,” Rasmussen said. “That is solidarity in action, and it will have a powerful effect on the ground.”

President Obama announced December 1 that he was sending an additional 30,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan, with the first deployments coming in January 2010. Those troops are being sent on an accelerated timeline to reinforce the 68,000 American troops and 39,000 NATO-led ISAF troops already there. The goal is to target the insurgency, break its momentum, and secure the Afghan population.

The need for additional forces in Afghanistan is urgent, but their mission will not be indefinite, Clinton said. The president said in his remarks that beginning in July 2011 the United States will transfer lead security responsibility to Afghans and begin to move military forces out of the country.

Clinton said the key to understanding this approach is based on the ability of the Afghan security forces — military and police — to assume greater responsibility, but the pace, size and scope of the drawdown will be determined by the situation on the ground, she told the ministers.

Rasmussen echoed her remarks, saying “transition doesn’t mean exit. We are not going to leave Afghanistan to fall back into the hands of terrorists and the extremists who host them. It will not happen.”

“It’s clearly our aim to hand over lead responsibility to the Afghans, but it is a pre-condition that the Afghan security forces are capable to take on that responsibility,” Rasmussen said.

OTHER NATO ACTIONS

• The NATO-Georgia Commission took stock of the reform process in Georgia, and the decision at the 2008 Bucharest Summit still stands that Georgia can become a member of NATO as it fulfills alliance criteria.

• NATO foreign ministers granted Montenegro’s request to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP), which is a program of advice, assistance and practical support to help individual countries that seek NATO membership.

• Bosnia-Herzegovina will be permitted to join the MAP process when there is progress in reforms.

• The NATO-Russia Council met December 4 and held extensive political and security discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. They agreed to a 2010 work program, implemented a number of measures to improve the work of the council, and agreed to launch a 21st-century joint review of common security challenges.