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  • Nato 'to ease Afghan troop rules'

    Nato 'to ease Afghan troop rules'

    Nato leaders at a summit in Latvia have agreed to relax restrictions on how their troops are used in Afghanistan.
    More than 75% of the 32,000-strong force in Afghanistan will soon be allowed to be deployed anywhere in the country, alliance officials said.
    Earlier, US President George W Bush berated Nato members, calling on them to accept "difficult assignments".
    The summit is to continue on Wednesday with discussion of military requests for more troops to fight insurgents.
    The two-day summit, the first Nato meeting on in an ex-Soviet state, will conclude after discussions about Nato's role in the 21st Century.
    The alliance leaders will also discuss ways to enhance Nato's partnership activities, including efforts to draw countries like Japan and Australia more closely into alliance activities.

    Tentative progress

    There were tentative promises of more troops for Afghanistan after a two-hour working dinner on Tuesday evening devoted entirely to the issue.
    An alliance spokesman told the Reuters news agency that three countries had agreed to send more troops, with several more agreeing to increase funding for Afghanistan.
    Commanders have requested 2,500 extra troops for the battle in southern Afghanistan.
    The dinner ended with agreement from France, Germany, Italy and Spain that their troops in Afghanistan could be sent to any part of the country if the circumstances demanded it.
    Previously their troops have been restricted by agreements limiting the areas they could be sent to.
    President Bush had called on Nato not to undermine the effort in Afghanistan.
    "For NATO to succeed, its commanders must have the resources and flexibility they need to do their jobs," he said.
    Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer described the Afghan operation - Nato's first outside Europe - as "mission possible", and said that it might even be able to start pulling out from 2008.

    Bearing the brunt

    Nato-led forces have faced fierce resistance from Taleban militants in the south of the country in recent months, where violence has risen to heights not seen since the toppling of the Taleban.
    Two Nato soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Logar province on Tuesday.
    Another soldier and an interpreter was also injured in the incident. The nationalities of those involved have not yet been released.
    Some 4,000 people are believed to have died this year in the insurgency - about a quarter of them civilians.
    About 90% of the casualties suffered by troops serving with the Nato force have involved just four countries: the US, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.

    New members

    The summit is also expected to debate Nato's continuing role as a military alliance in the 21st Century.
    "There are still too many messages of the Cold War in the way Nato is structured," said Mr de Hoop Scheffer, adding that partnerships with nations around the world "hold much potential".
    Speaking in Latvia, Mr Bush said Nato would keep its doors open to new members, including Georgia and Ukraine.
    The US president said the US would support Georgia's bid to join Nato as long as it continued on the path of reform and that membership of the military bloc would be open to Ukraine if the people chose it.
    Correspondents say membership for either country could further strain their relations with Moscow.
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
    About freaking time!

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    • #3
      Germany to decide by start of 2007 on aircraft for Afghanistan

      Berlin - Germany is studying a request from NATO for its air force to take on reconnaissance duties in Afghanistan and will decide by the start of 2007, a spokesman for the Defence Ministry said Wednesday in Berlin.

      The zone of deployment would be the 'whole of Afghanistan' and would not be limited to Kabul and the north where 2,900 German armed forces personnel currently perform peacekeeping and provincial reconstruction duties.

      Germany has been under pressure from NATO to assist embattled International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. It has a caveat against the use of German forces outside the current zones.

      The government is to brief chiefs of the parliamentary parties on the request
      To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

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