Powell asserts NATO 'priority'
David R. Sands and Benjamin Hu
The Washington Times
01/30/2004
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said
NATO's mission in Afghanistan must remain the alliance's "first
priority," even as the Bush administration pushes for a
NATO deployment to Iraq later this year.
Mr. Powell made his remarks after a meeting with new NATO Secretary-General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who faces the delicate task of mending
fences within the alliance following the divisive war in Iraq.
The continuing danger in Afghanistan, the first "out-of-area"
mission for NATO in its history, was underscored yesterday when
at least seven American troops were killed while working near
an ammunition dump in the southern province of Ghazni. Another
soldier was missing and two persons were wounded in the blast.
A U.S. military statement did not indicate the cause of the
blast, which occurred in a region where some 12,000 U.S. troops
are battling al Qaeda terrorists and militants of the ousted
fundamentalist Taliban regime.
A stepped-up campaign by the Taliban has been blamed for the
deaths of more than 80 soldiers and civilians in the past month.
This week has seen suicide bombs that killed two NATO peacekeepers
-- a Canadian and a Briton -- in Kabul itself, the first fatalities
of their kind in months.
U.S. officials would very much like to see NATO support for
the peacekeeping effort in Iraq, where American forces still
represent the overwhelming bulk of the foreign troop presence.
But NATO officials have been skittish about committing to Iraq
while Afghanistan remains so unsettled.
Afghanistan "should be the first priority," Mr. Powell
said.
He said the Iraq mission remained an open question, and NATO
could eventually "have some responsibilities" there.
Mr. de Hoop Scheffer, a veteran Dutch diplomat who took over
the NATO post at the beginning of the year, has been prodding
alliance skeptics to consider the U.S. request to take a major
role in the Iraq peacekeeping mission.
In his first trip to Washington since assuming the NATO job,
Mr. de Hoop Scheffer will meet with President Bush today in
the Oval Office, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney, National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld.
NATO has about 6,000 troops in Afghanistan, but is largely confined
to the area around the capital Kabul. The alliance is planning
a major expansion of its mission to provinces around the country
where the ousted Taliban regime and local warlords still hold
great power.
Afghanistan's U.S. ambassador earlier this week implored the
United States and other nations for new investment in his troubled
nation, saying the heightened insurgency threatens to derail
the country's planned June elections.
"We urgently need assistance from the international community,
especially in army and police reconstruction," Ambassador
Said Tayeb Jawad told reporters.
He said disarming local militias and curbing the country's illegal
drug trade are top priorities.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar,
Indiana Republican, warned earlier this week that the United
States risked losing the gains made in the 2001-2002 victory
over the Taliban if more attention and resources are not focused
on Afghanistan.
