 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
NATO chief urges new approach in Afghanistan
Brussels (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged the military alliance Monday to adopt a new counter-insurgency approach to fighting the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and their allies in Afghanistan. Rasmussen said NATO should fall into line behind a report by top commander, US General Stanley McChrystal, but ruled out talk about troop reinforcements until the results of the Afghan elections are clear. "We need a general agreement on the approach we need to take in Afghanistan, and that should mean an endorsement of the approach set out by General McChrystal," he said, ahead of talks between NATO defence ministers Friday. "Hoping that Taliban extremists will never again host Al-Qaeda is not a strategy. They did it in the past, we can only assume they will do it in future," he told reporters. The United States, which ordered McChrystal's strategy review, has yet to decide whether to adopt his recommendations, which puts the protection of Afghan civilians at the centre of NATO-led efforts, rather than fighting. But US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, at the NATO talks in Bratislava, is expected to inform the 27 allies about how Washington wants to proceed, with the insurgents currently holding the initiative. Rasmussen said a counter-insurgency approach "means more and better reconstruction and development, it means holding the new Afghan government to account to deal with corruption effectively and visibly, and it means building Afghan security forces". "Afghanistan needs to be made strong enough to resist the insurgency if it is to be able to resist terrorism -- it is as simple as that," he said. But he warned that it is important to have the results of the fraud-tainted Afghan elections in before discussing troop numbers, as Washington assesses whether to send in up to 40,000 more soldiers. "Time is not on our side, there is a need for a rapid decision," he said. "But on the other hand there is also a need to ensure that we have a stable government in Kabul, a government with which we can engage and make sure the government is considered credible by the Afghan people." Just after he spoke, a report into fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election on August 20 ordered that ballots from 210 polling stations be invalidated, meaning that a run-off remained possible. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links News From Across The Stans
US warns it needs credible Afghan partnerWashington (AFP) Oct 18, 2009 Top US officials Sunday delivered a sharp warning to Afghan leaders to resolve the election crisis, saying it would be irresponsible to send in more US troops without a strong government in place. "I think it would be irresponsible and... it would be reckless to make a decision on US troop level if, in fact, you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether in fact there's an Afghan partner ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook