[A-List] NATO Defense Chiefs To Meet On Afghanistan, Iraq, Global Strike Forces

[tony black]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rick Rozoff
To: Stop NATO
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 10:44 AM
Subject: [stopnato] NATO Defense Chiefs To Meet On Afghanistan, Iraq, Global 
Strike Forces


http://www.newsahead.com/content/view/1111/71/


NewsAhead (US)
January 11, 2006


9-10 Feb 2006. NATO defense ministers meet informally


-The ministers...want to check on the progress of the
planned NATO Rapid Response Force, designed to be the
Alliance's quick-reaction force to project power
outside Europe from late 2006. The check will include
a review of Operation Steadfast Jaguar 06, a military
exercise in the North Atlantic in June to test the new
force.



TAORMINA, ITALY - 9-10 Feb 2006, NATO defense
ministers [are to]meet informally, and look set to
return to the same issues that occupied them at their
September meeting - Afghanistan, Darfur, Iraq and the
planned Rapid Response Force.

United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld won
agreement from NATO allies in December for the
extension of the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) to the south of Afghanistan.

Some 20,000 forces of US-led Operation Enduring
Freedom are fighting in the more turbulent south and
east of the country, where the Taliban and allied
insurgents are most active.

The Pentagon announced in December that Rumsfeld had
ordered a cut in the number of US troops in
Afghanistan to about 16,000 by next Spring. As
individual NATO states have yet to confirm how many
troops they will deploy, there is concern in the
United Nations and elsewhere that the NATO troops may
not make up in number for the withdrawn Americans.

NATO rejected a military role in Iraq shortly after
the US-led invasion, but agreed to help train the
Iraqi military, and ministers agreed in December to
expand the training role to include a so-called basic
officers course and a leadership course for
noncommissioned officers.

There are fewer arguments over NATO’s role in Sudan,
its first mission on the African continent. NATO has
rejected a peacekeeping role there, but has agreed to
a limited extension of a mission to airlift African
Union troops to the troubled Darfur region. The
African Union has asked for NATO help in training its
officers for the mission and for additional airlifts.

The ministers will also want to check on the progress
of the planned NATO Rapid Response Force, designed to
be the Alliance's quick-reaction force to project
power outside Europe from late 2006. The check will
include a review of Operation Steadfast Jaguar 06, a
military exercise in the North Atlantic in June to
test the new force.



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