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NATO stands by Afghan goals amid Australian troubles

Other News Materials 19 April 2012 00:25 (UTC +04:00)
NATO and its supporters insisted Wednesday that plans for Afghanistan remain on track, as they contended with both reports that Australian troops could leave early and the publication of new photos showing US soldiers posing with dead Afghan fighters.
NATO stands by Afghan goals amid Australian troubles

NATO and its supporters insisted Wednesday that plans for Afghanistan remain on track, as they contended with both reports that Australian troops could leave early and the publication of new photos showing US soldiers posing with dead Afghan fighters, DPA reported.

The new developments came just days after the Taliban had already made headlines around the world with a fresh wave of deadly attacks.

"As difficult a week as this has been in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, the big picture is clear - the transition is on track," US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton assured reporters in Brussels after meeting her NATO counterparts.

"By their nature, transitions of any kind are challenging. There will be setbacks and hard days," she added. "But clear progress is happening and today NATO reaffirmed our commitment to stand with the Afghans, ... to protect the gains of the last decade and to prevent there ever being a return of al-Qaeda or other extremists."

NATO plans to withdraw most of its around 130,000 international combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, leaving behind only training and support personnel to assist local security forces.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard spurred speculation of an early departure on Tuesday, when she said she expected Afghanistan to announce this year that her country would start handing over responsibility to local forces in the southern province of Uruzgan.

The process typically takes 12-18 months. Although Gillard didn't mention a start or end date for the handover, many interpreted her words as meaning that Australian troops could leave in 2013, rather than 2014.

"Let me stress that there is no change whatsoever in the (NATO) timeline," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen retorted on Wednesday. "We will gradually hand over lead responsibility in a process that will be completed by the end of 2014."

He has had to repeatedly assert that the Afghanistan roadmap has not changed, most recently in February, when statements by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta had appeared to suggest that combat operations could end in 2013.

Rasmussen pointed out that all 50 countries in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have signed up to "the basic principle of in together, out together" in Afghanistan.

"I know that the Australians are committed to that principle as well," he added.

But German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters that he was "surprised" by Gillard's statements.

"My Australian colleague reported differently in February," he said. "But that can't deter us in our strategy to organize the withdrawal until the end of 2014."

The date is a "smart" choice, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle argued.

"If you withdraw too early, it is a mistake because the terrorists then can take everything over again like before. That is also a threat to our security," he said. "And withdrawing too slowly is, of course, also not right."

Although the withdrawal has been decided since the NATO Lisbon summit in 2010, many questions still remain about what happens after that.

Key among those questions is who will pay how much to sustain Afghan forces post-2014, with the country unable to do so on its own. Rasmussen said several NATO members had pledged "concrete financial contributions" on Wednesday, but declined to provide details.

The British government announced that it would put up 70 million pounds (112 million dollars) a year, while Belgian Defence Minister Pieter De Crem told the Belga news agency that there was consensus in his government on a contribution of 15 million dollars.

Rasmussen confirmed that a total of "around 4 billion dollars" a year will likely be needed, with the US expected to be the single largest contributor.

NATO ministers are scheduled to also discuss the issue with non-alliance countries involved in ISAF on Thursday in Brussels.

The alliance is planning to have a total of 352,000 Afghan soldiers and policemen trained through the end of this year. That level is to be sustained through 2015, with a gradual drawdown to 228,500 troops then due to follow through 2017, diplomats said.

"Allies and partners have a very clear vision and a very clear message - our strategy is right, our strategy is working and if we stick to it, we can achieve the mission of establishing an Afghanistan that can secure and govern itself," Panetta said.

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