KABUL, 12 August 2003 — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization yesterday began its first operation outside Europe in its 54-year history when it took command of peacekeepers in the Afghan capital.
At a ceremony in Kabul, German Defence Minister Peter Struck said NATO’s job was to ensure Afghanistan did not become a safe haven for terrorism again.
“There is still a lot to be done,” he said. “Afghanistan must not lapse back into anarchy or chaos. Afghanistan must not again become the home of global terror as was the case under the rule of the Taleban.”
Germany and the Netherlands had held joint command of the 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force until the handover, which was attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General James Jones.
At the ceremony, Lt.-Gen. Norbert van Heyst, outgoing commander of ISAF, transferred command to another German three-star general, Goetz Gliemeroth, from NATO command.
The open-ended command is a strategic departure from NATO’s Cold War role of defending its immediate borders and officials say it stems from a post-Sept. 11 perception among its 19 members that the alliance needs to deploy where problems arise.
Speaking at a news conference after the ceremony, Jones called it “a signal moment in the history of the alliance.”
“We are making a clear statement of transition, which is from the 20th Century defensive bipolar world, into the multipolar flexible need for rapid response across a myriad of threats.”
The mission comes amid US efforts to get NATO to play a part in stabilizing post-war Iraq, where US troops come under almost daily attack, but it remains unclear how broad a role the alliance will take on in Afghanistan.
The US-backed Afghan government and the United Nations have repeatedly urged ISAF’s expansion into the lawless provinces, where factional rivalries and a resurgent Taleban militant movement pose mounting security problems for reconstruction work and elections due to be held next year. But the peacekeeping force’s role under NATO will remain confined to the capital, at least initially.
NATO spokesman Mark Laity said on Sunday the alliance was willing to discuss expanding peacekeeping operations beyond Kabul but wanted to settle down in the job first. Karzai told the ceremony people in outlying provinces, where local warlords control huge swathes of territory, were calling for international peacekeepers to expand their role.
According to European diplomats, the United States opposed in the past any expansion of ISAF, wanting a free hand for a separate coalition force hunting Taleban remnants and the group’s Al-Qaeda allies blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. They say Washington appears to have had a change of heart but some European partners are worried about increased risk and cost.
While ISAF casualties in Kabul have been relatively low, risks would soar in provinces haunted by unruly militias and Taleban fighters blamed for killing about 100 government soldiers, policemen and officials this year.
Underlining the continued terrorist threat, US bases in the eastern province of Paktika came under rocket and small arms fire at the weekend, an almost daily occurance in the past year. There were no casualties, but the US military said it had killed one suspected Taleban fighter and detained three others in a separate incident, also in the east.
