ISTANBUL, 30 June 2004 — Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a forceful plea yesterday for NATO leaders to speed up the planned deployment of additional peacekeepers ahead of key September elections.
Afghans need the troops to protect them against terrorists, private militias and drugs gangs, he said.
“Please hurry,” Karzai implored alliance leaders at the summit. “Come sooner than September and provide the Afghan men and women with a chance to vote freely without fear, without coercion.”
US President George W. Bush and other alliance leaders decided Monday to expand NATO peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan from 6,500 to 10,000 over the election period. About 1,300 of those troops will be held in reserve outside the country.
The expanded NATO forces will mostly come from Europe and should free up the separate, 20,000-strong US-led force in Afghanistan to intensify its pursuit of Taleban and Al-Qaeda rebels in troubled southern and eastern Afghanistan.
A day earlier, on the opening day of the summit, leaders also agreed to help train the fledgling Iraqi armed forces just hours after the US handed power to the new government in Iraq.
The summit was intended to underscore NATO unity after the deep divisions sparked by the US-led invasion of Iraq 15 months ago. But the decision for NATO to help train the Iraqi military only underscored that deep divisions remain, particularly between France and the United States.
French President Jacques Chirac forcefully opposed any collective NATO presence on the ground in Iraq. Instead, he suggested the alliance limit its role to coordinating national efforts, mainly outside the country.
“I am completely hostile to the idea of a NATO establishment in Iraq,” Chirac told a news conference. “It would be dangerous, counterproductive and misunderstood by the Iraqis, who after all deserve a little bit of respect.”
But American officials stressed the training program should be a centralized operation under a NATO command in Iraq, although they accepted that reluctant countries like France and Germany could limit their contribution to training outside the country.
“We made a decision to begin a collective mission in Iraq at this summit,” insisted Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to NATO.
Karzai thanked the 26 NATO leaders for expanding the force in Afghanistan, but implored them to accelerate the deployment, reminding the summit of recent deadly attacks on voter registration officials.
“The Afghan people have trust in the security that you are going to provide for us, but the Afghan people need that security today and not tomorrow,” he said.
About 23,000 police and soldiers guarded the summit, closing several streets around the meeting site and leaders’ hotels.
