Category: NATOSource

NATO members not providing 900 trainers for Afghanistan

By Patrick Markey, Reuters

From Patrick Markey, Reuters:  NATO training chief Lieutenant General William Caldwell said his mission was short of 900 instructors, mostly in the police, but also to train Afghans to become independent of NATO in areas such as logistics, maintenance, transport and medical services.

Hamid Karzai criticises Russian drug raid

By Ben Farmer, the Telegraph

Turkey not partner but owner of NATO, FM says

By Fulya Ozerkan, Hurriyet

From Fulya Ozerkan, Hurriyet:  Turkey is not a partner, but an owner of NATO, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Saturday, adding that an agreement within the multi-national alliance is as important as an accord within the European Union. Speaking to a small group of journalists en route from Xi’an to Shanghai as part of his weeklong […]

Closer Anglo-French cooperation will make NATO stronger

By Liam Fox, the Telegraph

From Liam Fox, the Telegraph:  [T]his week will mark the beginning of a long-term commitment to closer cooperation on defence and security projects with France our most important bilateral defence relationship in Europe. The aim of this week’s summit will be to strengthen the relationship at all levels and foster closer cooperation in a number […]

Russia, US collaborate in Afghan drug raid

By the AP

From the AP: U.S. and Russian drug control agencies have raided heroin and opium labs in Afghanistan in an unprecedented collaborative bust, destroying $250 million worth of drugs, officials said Friday. Afghan forces also were involved in the raid on four laboratories near the Pakistan border, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said on customary condition of anonymity. […]

Anti-Taliban militia receives training in Australia

By the AP

From the AP:  Afghan militia fighters were secretly flown to Australia to train with its special forces in a contentious new strategy against the Taliban insurgency, Australia’s defense chief confirmed Friday. Six fighters allied to influential warlord Matiullah Khan trained last week at Australian bases to strengthen military operations against the Taliban, said Air Marshall […]

NATO to cut Kosovo troop numbers to 5,000

By Reuters

From Reuters:  NATO will reduce its troop numbers in Kosovo to 5,000 in the new few months due to improved security, the alliance head said on Friday. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced in September last year that the alliance would cut its Kosovo Security Force, or KFOR, from 15,000 troops to 10,000 troops at […]

Why Is Osama bin Laden Going After the French?

By Andrew Lebovich, Foreign Policy

From Andrew Lebovich, Foreign Policy:  Yesterday, in an audio recording released to Qatar-based news station Al Jazeera, al Qaeda Central leader Osama bin Laden for the first time singled out France as a target of attack

NATO chief pledges to uphold Afghan women’s rights

By Reuters

From Reuters:  NATO will support a political deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban only if it respects the constitutional rights of women, the alliance’s secretary-general said on Friday. "The Afghan government is trying hard to engage with those Taliban who are willing to stop fighting," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a […]

NATO lives!

By Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy

From Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy:  [I]t was clear that the class was strongly disposed to favor NATO’s continued existence even before the discussion began, and that view strengthened the more they talked and listened. I’d attribute this result to several rather obvious factors