WASHINGTON/KABUL, 17 January 2008 — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates unleashed rare public criticism of the NATO forces deployed in southern Afghanistan saying they were unprepared to fight a guerrilla insurgency, The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.
“I’m worried we’re deploying (military advisers) that are not properly trained and I’m worried we have some military forces that don’t know how to do counterinsurgency operations,” Gates told the daily.
With allied commanders fretting over the security situation, Gates’ biting analysis comes as the US administration has decided to send 3,200 Marines to southern Afghanistan on a temporary mission to help curb mounting attacks.
“Most of the European forces, NATO forces, are not trained in counterinsurgency,” Gates added. The NATO troops in the area are mainly British, Canadian and Dutch. Gates said, “our guys in the east, under Gen. Rodriguez, are doing a terrific job. They’ve got the (counterinsurgency) thing down pat. But I think our allies over there, this is not something they have any experience with.”
But NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer defended allied troops fighting the Taleban-led insurgency in south Afghanistan. “I have the greatest respect for what the allies are doing in the west, the north, the east and the south,” Scheffer, a Dutchman, told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
“And perhaps more specifically for what is being done in the south. All the countries in the south — where the going gets tough — are doing excellent work,” he said. Australia and Denmark also have forces there.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon urged NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan in order to fill a shortfall, or at the least replace temporary US reinforcements coming home later this year.
After announcing that the United States would deploy 3,200 Marines as early as March for a seven-month mission, the Pentagon’s spokesman said he hoped the decision would influence NATO allies to beef up the international force in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, British politician and former soldier Paddy Ashdown has agreed to become the United Nations’ envoy to Afghanistan, a source close to negotiations on the post said yesterday. “Yes, he has accepted the job,” the source said of an agreement between Ashdown, 66, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after talks about Ashdown’s request for a strengthened mandate for the post.
The role will put Ashdown at the heart of international efforts to combat a Taleban insurgency and guide reconstruction. The source said that the United Nations was expected to make an announcement confirming the appointment imminently. A spokesman for Ashdown declined to comment on whether an agreement had been reached.
