NATO HQ, Brussels, 25-26 April 2012
By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch
Chiefs of Defence met NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday for strategic discussion on the Alliance’s priorities and challenges for the medium and longer term. The Military Committee’s advice will provide the basis of the North Atlantic Council’s guidance to the NATO Summit in Chicago.
In his opening remarks the Chairman of the Military Committee, General Knud Bartels, said that:
Despite a number of tactical challenges in recent times we remain cautiously optimistic that our plan remains on track. Our service men and women working alongside their partners in the Afghan National Security Forces continue to do a superb job. The Afghan National Security Forces are increasingly taking the lead and becoming more effective. They are now lead 40% of all combat operations and 50% of the population live in areas under their command and control. This increase in effectiveness has been clearly demonstrated in their actions following a series of challenging threats to security in recent months, including the attacks in Kabul on 15th April. What is important now is that we must stay the course in accordance with the Lisbon strategy. In this respect the Chicago Summit provides an excellent platform on which NATO will express its commitment to Afghanistan’s future and commit to the delivery of sustainable success.
Following our work on Afghanistan we will engage with a number of partners to explore opportunities to improve practical military cooperation from the military perspective. With Ukraine we will hear of their commitment to take part in Operation OCEAN SHIELD in the future and with Georgia we look forward to their observations on being a partner on operations. We will then meet in NATO Russia Council format.
All that was officially reported after the meetings was that “with ISAF Partners, the Military Committee focused on the NATO Strategic Plan for Afghanistan. The Chiefs of Defence of Russia, Ukraine and Georgia participated in debates to evaluate the practicalities of NATO military partnerships and discuss ways to deepen cooperation.”
And:
Other sessions addressed NATO’s operation in Kosovo (KFOR), NATO’s counter piracy Operation Ocean Shield (OOS), NATO’s counter terrorism Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) and the Libyan Operation Unified Protector (OUP) Lessons Identified.
NATO Spokesperson, Oana Lungescu led the afternoon press briefing and began by introducing General Adrian Bradshaw, Deputy Commander ISAF, who spoke via satellite link from Kabul. He stated that (highlights):
Insurgent-initiated attacks over the year [2011] were about ten per cent down on what they were the previous year … the security zone was further expanded, and the writ of the Afghan Government here in Kabul was extended to more of Helmand and Kandahar provinces. And, indeed, we saw similar progress out in the east.
Over the course of last year, also, we saw determined efforts by the insurgents to get into Kabul to disrupt the workings of the capital, the workings of the government. And that they manifestly failed to do … we saw considerable improvements in the quality and capability of the Afghan National Security Forces also over last year. They showed, in the late part of last year, and over the winter, their confidence at planning and coordinating and leading brigade-level operations, again, in the hardest insurgent areas, in the south and in the east, working alongside ISAF, with assistance from ISAF, but with Afghan forces in the lead.
They managed to coordinate these operations very well with the police and with the local authorities, and in a number of areas they've shown competence and capability, which has not only surprised us, it surprised them.
Of course, we've got a great deal still to do. We've got to continue working on building the logistics capability of the Afghan Forces, we've got to build a degree of institutional depth, but as I say, I think we're at an important stage in the campaign where as we start to hand over more and more responsibility to our Afghan partners we're finding that the insurgents are under pressure, their momentum has been reversed, and we expect that progress to be maintained through this coming late spring and summer, and on towards our eventual handover of combat operations completely to the Afghan National Security Forces in late 2014.
In summary, we've seen the momentum of the insurgency reversed, we're now going forward arm-in-arm with our Afghan partners as they grow in strength and capability. As you know, the Afghan National Security Forces will be up to a third of a million strong very shortly. They are increasingly confident, capable and they are achieving great things shoulder-to-shoulder with the 50 nations of ISAF.
Concluding the press briefing, Oana Lungescu said:
Indeed, we don't foresee a combat role for NATO in Afghanistan after 2014. However, as General Bradshaw has just said, we will continue to assist, to train and to advise the Afghan forces so that they remain strong and they remain capable beyond 2014, and we'll also ensure that our trainers have the resources that they need to do the job.
The details of our commitment to Afghanistan after 2014 will, of course, be discussed and agreed by Heads of State and Government at the Summit in Chicago, in less than one month from now. But what is clear is that NATO will remain committed to Afghanistan and to supporting Afghanistan so that it remains stable and secure after 2014.