By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch
On Monday 24 June European Union Foreign Ministers discussed whether to maintain the police mission in Afghanistan with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Speaking before the meeting, he said the discussions would be about how NATO can work with the EU to ensure there is "sufficient protection in place" for the post-2014 EU mission, adding: "I will discuss how we can ensure a close coordination between the European Union and NATO".
Ministers agreed at the meeting that EU Member States will start planning for a police mission in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of 2014. The current EU mission, which includes 350 international police and 200 local officials, has been in the country since 2007 training and advising Afghan police officials and Interior ministry staff. Their mandate expires in December 2014.
The Ministers' statement indicated that "strategic planning and programming for comprehensive EU action to support Afghan efforts in strengthening civilian policing and rule of law post-2014 will be taken forward”. It also set a mid-2014 target for a longer-term "strategic engagement" with Afghanistan after 2014 and reiterated their concerns about "the overall security situation in Afghanistan”.
The EU Foreign Ministers also welcomed the prospect of peace talks with the Taliban following the opening of a political office in Doha. "The EU calls on all political forces in Afghanistan to support the peace process, and on the countries in the region to use their influence on parties to the conflict in Afghanistan to urge participation in substantive peace negotiations", the statement said.
During his monthly press conference on 6 May, the Secretary General stressed the need for deeper NATO-EU cooperation and later the same day he told the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee that: "We Europeans must understand that soft power alone is really no power at all. Without hard capabilities to back up its diplomacy, Europe will lack credibility and influence”. It has also been reported that Rasmussen has called for the December European Council on Security and Defence to “showcase a Europe that is both able and willing to act”.