NATO has announced a last-ditch measure to shore up more troops for its troubled mission of Afghanistan. It is reducing the size of its showcase NATO Response Force (NRF) after a meeting in the Dutch beach resort of Noordwijk failed to generate a surge in forces.
 |
| NATO chief Jaap De Hoop Scheffer listening to Dutch Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop |
Despite much hard lobbying at Noordwijk, only a handful of countries came forward with offers of fresh troops. Those pledges were too meagre to drown out talk of a crisis in NATO's ISAF operations in Afghanistan.
NATO's emergency
Troop numbers are below full capacity and are set to drop further when the Dutch trim their presence in Uruzgan next year, expected to be announced next month in The Hague. There is also a shortage of helicopters and other hardware.
"There is huge pressure on the forces of our allies and that's why we've decided to reduce the core of the NRF, though our concept remains the same. If I have a choice between having troops on standby (with the NRF) and troops on the ground, I know which I will go for,"
explained Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Cutting back the NATO Response Force is tantamount to pressing the emergency button. It is a painful downgrade for the Alliance, which has been trumpeting the NRF as its 'Next Big Thing': a gleaming, global force of 25, 000 troops that could be deployed anywhere, anytime. But now this military Ferrari could end up as a Mini.
No more hiding
In theory, the move should mean that more troops are available to send to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban insurgency. Allies will no longer be able to hide behind the smokescreen that they are overstretched because of NRF commitments. But in practice, trading in the NRF for success in Afghanistan is unlikely to work.
NATO's in deep trouble in its Afghan mission because it can't muster the political support it needs. The bulk of the nations that are in the country are cowering behind ISAF's reconstruction operations in the safer northern provinces instead of actual fighting.
At Noordwijk, there was no take-up to rotating forces to take the heat off the Dutch, Canadians, British and Americans who are on the frontlines in the South. The NATO chief said:
"I admit that the [pressure on forces] is sometimes a question of political will. I'll make no bones about that."
The Alliance is now looking at ways to improve communication to garner more popular support for its ISAF operations. But the lukewarm atmosphere at Noordwijk suggests it will take a lot more to reverse NATO's fortunes.
Tags: Afghanistan, De Hoop Scheffer, Eimert van Middelkoop, ISAF, NATO, NATO Responce Force, Noordwijk, Uruzgan