KavkazCenter - Prodi Rejects Bush's Call for Troop Redeployment in Afghanistan

Prodi Rejects Bush's Call for Troop Redeployment in Afghanistan

Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Italy would not allow its 1,900 troops in Afghanistan to be moved by NATO commanders to other parts of the country, rejecting a call by President George W. Bush.

Bush yesterday urged North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies to make more troops in Afghanistan available to fight the Taliban insurgency and to reduce restrictions placed by member nations that have curtailed the movement of soldiers.

``The countries there are firmly committed in areas that they're assigned to, Prodi told reporters in Riga, Latvia, where NATO leaders are meeting for a summit. ``The strategy has been chosen and no one can talk about changing this strategy. This is the position of other countries as well, including Germany, France and Spain.

Germany's contingent is stationed in northeast Afghanistan, while the Italians are in the capital of Kabul and in the northwest, the Spanish are in the northwest and the French are mostly in Kabul. The U.S., Canada, the U.K., and the Netherlands are facing greater Taliban resistance in the south, and NATO would like to send more troops there.

``To succeed in Afghanistan, NATO allies must provide the forces NATO military commanders require, Bush said during a press conference in Tallinn, Estonia, before he traveled to Riga yesterday. ``Like Estonia, member nations must accept difficult assignments if we expect to be successful.

Resistance

NATO leaders including Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet today to negotiate ways to cooperate in Afghanistan, where Taliban resistance is hampering efforts to bring Afghanistan under the control of President Hamid Karzai.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called on members of the alliance to step up their commitment to fighting insurgents by reducing the restrictions, or ``caveats'' yesterday.

Caveats can hinder commanders' ability to fight, de Hoop Scheffer told a research institute conference in Riga. In southern Afghanistan, he said caveats have contributed to a 20 percent deficit of NATO's required force strength.

``We must resource ISAF properly, de Hoop Scheffer said, referring to NATO's Afghan mission. ``I have spoken out repeatedly about national caveats that take away a commander's flexibility and undermine our operational effectiveness.

Fighting at Night

Restrictions in Afghanistan include some national forces not fighting at night, according to the Center for Defense Information, a Washington-based research institute on military issues. Germany's mandate restricts it to development work in northern Afghanistan, while the Dutch must avoid ground combat.

``We need to continue to make better progress in fully resourcing the military requirement and doing away as much as possible with the most restrictive caveats,'' General James Jones, the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, said at a panel discussion yesterday. He said NATO had been discussing about 50 national caveats.

Italy allows its troops to be called in an emergency — where other soldiers are in trouble and need help — in a region they aren't assigned to. If they are asked to participate in a mission outside their region, NATO commanders must ask the Italian government, which has 72 hours to either approve or disapprove of the mission.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Scherer in Riga at sscherer@bloomberg.net .

Source: Mathaba.net