BELGIUM: UNITED STATES URGES NATO TO CONSIDER A MORE PROMINENT ROLE IN POSTWAR IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
Record ID:
337925
BELGIUM: UNITED STATES URGES NATO TO CONSIDER A MORE PROMINENT ROLE IN POSTWAR IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
- Title: BELGIUM: UNITED STATES URGES NATO TO CONSIDER A MORE PROMINENT ROLE IN POSTWAR IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
- Date: 6th December 2003
- Summary: (EU) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (DECEMBER 4, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR AND FLAGS AT NATO HEADQUARTERS ENTRANCE IN BRUSSELS; MV NATO'S SECRETARY-GENERAL LORD GEORGE ROBERTSON, ARRIVING 0.18 2. MV U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, COLIN POWELL, ARRIVING 0.28 3. MV FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER, DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN, WALKING IN; SLV NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL MEETING; MV POWELL TALKING 0.49 4. MV EU'S SECURITY POLICY CHIEF, JAVIER SOLANA, GREETING POWELL; SLV NATO MEETING 1.02 5. MV SOLANA SPEAKING WITH NEWLY APPOINTED DUTCH FOREIGN MINISTER, BEN BOT AND ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANCO FRATTINI; SLV NATO MEETING 1.13 6. SCU POWELL LISTENING TO ROBERTSON'S OPENING SPEECH; SLV NATO MEETING 1.23 7. SLV FOREIGN MINISTERS OF NATO MEMBER STATES TAKING THEIR POSITIONS FOR A GROUP PHOTO; MV ROBERTSON AND POWELL IN FAMILY PHOTO; SLV FAMILY PHOTO (4 SHOTS) 1.51 8. SLV NEWS CONFERENCE GIVEN BY ROBERTSON 1.55 9. (SOUNDBITE)(English) NATO'S SECRETARY-GENERAL, GEORGE ROBERTSON, COMMENTING ON A POSSIBLE NATO INVOLVEMENT IN IRAQ, SAYING "We have not come to the stage where anybody is yet tabling a proposal for an increased role for NATO in Iraq beyond that that we are doing at the present moment. But nobody has excluded NATO doing more in Iraq if the time is right and the circumstances are right as well. And those circumstances might involve a different UN environment, they might also involve a different view of what was happening on the ground and the desire of individual countries to do something with NATO support. But at the present moment, NATO is focusing on Afghanistan." 2.41 10. SLV MEDIA; MV / SLV POWELL ARRIVING AT PODIUM; SLV NEWS CONFERENCE 2.57 11. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, COLIN POWELL, SAYING "The point was: NATO is busy, has a lot of things going on, 18 of its 26 member states or states-to-be have troops in Iraq. We are focusing on setting up an expanded mission in Afghanistan, so let's not lose sight of that particular vital mission. And at the same time, let's begin examining what we might be able to do in Iraq beyond support of the Polish division. Various options are well known and out on the table. Maybe at some point we could consider that NATO would take over the responsibility for the sector that Polish division is currently managing. But that is at some point the future. They may be broader things that NATO could do. And so, the important point is that not one single NATO member here today - including the new countries that are about to become members of the Alliance, spoke against the possibility of an expanded role for NATO in Iraq, and that includes the two you mentioned, France and Germany." 4.06 12. HAS MEDIA; SLV FLAGS AT NATO ENTRANCE 4.17 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st December 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Reuters ID: LVA6FXD95SNCXQ2TP5QM4OERKLB3
- Story Text: The United States urges NATO to consider a more
prominent role in postwar Iraq and Afghanistan.
The United States urged NATO on Thursday (December
4, 2003) to consider a more prominent role in post-war Iraq but
its overture was soured by a row over European Union
ambitions to set up a military planning cell independent of
the alliance. It was the first time since the U.S.-led war
over which NATO was plunged into one of the deepest
crises in its 54-year history, that Washington had openly
pressed for alliance help in a country where its own costs
and casualties are mounting.
NATO currently provides behind-the-scenes support to a
23-nation division of troops, led by Poland in a swathe of
south-central Iraq, and 18 of the 26 current and future
members of the alliance have a military presence in the
country.
Diplomats say that until now, Washington had been
careful not to force the debate on a more direct NATO
involvement for fear of risking another bust-up with its
allies. France and Germany, Europe's fiercest critics of
the war, had made it plain that they would insist on a
heftier role for the United Nations, an invitation from a
legitimate Iraqi body and a role independent of the
U.S.-British occupying authority as their price for NATO
involvement. But with the prospect of a handover of
sovereignty to Iraqis next year, there has been more talk
of a robust role for NATO.
Earlier this week Spain proposed that NATO take command
of the Polish-led division, and diplomats said Italy was
also favourable to the idea.
Before the ministerial conference got under way, Turkey
offered three helicopters for NATO's peacekeeping force in
Afghanistan, filling a gap that had begun to undermine the
credibility of plans to expand the mission beyond Kabul.
At a media conference, NATO's Secretary-General, George
Robertson, said that the alliance was not yet at a stage
where anyone had tabled a proposal on an increased role in
Iraq. "But nobody has excluded NATO doing more in Iraq if
the time is right and the circumstances are right as well.
And those circumstances might involve a different UN
environment, they might also involve a different view of
what was happening on the ground and the desire of
individual countries to do something with NATO support. But
at the present moment, NATO is focusing on Afghanistan," he
said.
Also speaking to the world's media, Powell
acknowledged that NATO had a lot on its plate.
"NATO is busy, has a lot of things going on, 18 of its
26 member states or states-to-be have troops in Iraq. We
are focusing on setting up an expanded mission in
Afghanistan, so let's not lose sight of that particular
vital mission. And at the same time, let's begin examining
what we might be able to do in Iraq beyond support of the
Polish division," he said.
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