[R-G] U.S. urges NATO allies to back 5-year Afghan plan

[Anthony Fenton]

U.S. urges NATO allies to back 5-year Afghan plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031302831.html
Reuters
Thursday, March 13, 2008; 4:43 PM

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States is urging NATO allies at a  
summit next month to sign up to a five-year plan stepping up efforts  
to end the insurgency in Afghanistan, according to a document obtained  
by Reuters.

Under the plan, alliance members would commit to plug troop shortfalls  
and supply enough well-trained and flexible forces to combat  
insurgents, while providing the support, training and equipment needed  
by Afghanistan's own security forces.

The U.S. proposals also set out benchmarks for measuring success, such  
as the ability of Afghanistan to hold elections undisrupted by  
violence, and to field a trained army of 70,000 troops and a  
professionalized 82,000-strong police force.

While they do not explicitly refer to the refusal of allies such as  
Germany to send troops to the thick of the fighting in south  
Afghanistan, the proposals call on allies to acknowledge a need to  
"share the burden" of the battle.

The Afghan mission is the toughest ground war faced by the 59-year-old  
alliance and has led to open differences among allies over tactics and  
troop levels of its 43,000-strong International Security Assistance  
Force (ISAF).

The proposed U.S. plan is part of an input paper for a "strategic  
vision statement" to be unveiled at an April 2-4 summit in Bucharest  
affirming NATO's long-term commitment to defeating the Taliban-led  
insurgency.

Alliance diplomats in Brussels are currently drafting the statement  
and say the final version is far from finished. The U.S. paper is  
dated February3 but a source familiar with the U.S. position said it  
still closely represented U.S. thinking.

The paper calls on NATO partners to commit to develop a five-year  
security plan but offers no target date for an actual exit of NATO  
troops, instead saying peace could take time.

"ISAF and the international community must agree to make a long-term  
commitment to Afghanistan," the paper says.

"Success in Afghanistan is nothing less than a test of our solidarity  
and commitment to each other and to our values ... Failure would show  
that the will of the NATO allies is one of short-duration, close-to- 
home and non-risky engagements."

It calls on NATO allies to work with other agencies to ensure each  
Afghan province has its own Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) --  
reconstruction units complete with military back-up -- for as long as  
needed.

It further urges allies to support Afghan efforts to combat the huge  
narcotics trade, "including through interdiction, eradication,  
alternative livelihood and other programs."

(Writing by Mark John)