NATO FMs back troops expansion in Afghanistan: NATO chief

NATO foreign ministers support the expansion of the NATO-led international force to the volatile south of Afghanistan, said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Friday.

The ministers gave a "strong commitment" to the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), he told a press conference at the end of a two-day informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

He said the forces have "robust rules of engagement" and if necessary, they should use them robustly in face of the complicated security situation in the south of Afghanistan.

The expansion of ISAF, pushed by Washington, is aimed to help scale down the U.S. military's involvement in the country.

NATO will need to increase the troop numbers from 9,000 now to 16,000 in the summer to carry out tasks in the south.

NATO troops are yet to take over the east of the country, where American soldiers are hunting for remnants of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

On Friday, the NATO foreign ministers also agreed to continue to support the African Union (AU) in its efforts to bring peace to Sudan's Darfur region.

"NATO is ready to continue support under the principle of African leadership," said de Hoop Scheffer.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the AU's 7,000 poorly equipped troops are not enough to stop violence there and should be taken over by the United Nations.

"The AU mission, while it has been successful thus far, is not robust enough to deal with the continued violence in Darfur," Rice told reporters.

She said NATO has to provide support for the AU mission as the first order of business. "But also, there needs to be a UN blue- hatted mission which is more sustainable and can be more robust."

NATO is already helping the AU mission with training and transport. Now NATO is ready to offer more help but would not risk sending ground troops to Darfur.

The ministers also expressed support for NATO's mission in the Serbian province of Kosovo, which has been under UN administration after Serb forces were driven out by NATO in 1999. NATO would maintain the troops level there, said de Hoop Scheffer.

He said NATO ministers also agreed to enlarge NATO's training effort in Iraq.

On the first day of their meeting, NATO foreign ministers endorsed the idea of having closer ties with countries way out of the Euro-Atlantic region, such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

They also discussed the alliance's enlargement. The ministers hold that NATO's doors are open to European democracies, but the accession process of each aspirant country should be performance- based. They refused to set specific timelines or give a specific list of countries for accession.

At present, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are part of the membership action plan, the last step before securing an invitation for membership. Ukraine and Georgia are still waiting for a nod from NATO for this status.

Source: Xinhua