NATO still mulling U.S. request
to begin planning delivery of aid
By Gregory Piatt,
Belgium bureau
MONS, Belgium — NATO is still debating a U.S. request to have the alliance begin
planning how alliance troops and planes could get humanitarian aid to millions of refugees
in and around Afghanistan.
On Friday, the alliance’s ruling body of 19 ambassadors postponed until Monday a
decision to have military planners based at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
come up with a plan.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization wants to take a broader military role as the
United States prosecutes its war on terrorism in Afghanistan and its allies realize that
millions of Afghan refugees in and around Afghanistan are threatened with starvation and
exposure as winter approaches.
"NATO wants to have a role and the U.S. sees providing humanitarian assistance as
important," a NATO diplomat told Stars and Stripes on the condition of anonymity.
Since the United States asked its allies on Wednesday, some are taking a hard look at
the request and have asked to delay the decision twice. The two days of debate didn’t
produce "any clarity" to get the alliance to go ahead, a NATO official said.
Apart from offering solidarity, the alliance’s military role in the war on
terrorism has been limited to five NATO Airborne Warning and Control Systems planes
deployed to the United States and ships in its standing Mediterranean naval fleet shifted
to guard sea lanes near the Middle East.
During the Kosovo bombing campaign in 1999, the United States was frustrated by the
complications of alliance consensus, which sometimes had alliance capitals picking bombing
targets.
The U.S. request is an attempt to increase the European stake in the war but avoid the
complications that come with a multinational military operation.
The U.S. request would have military planners develop a study to get aid to the
refugees. Ultimately, the United States would like to see NATO aircraft carry aid to a
country neighboring Afghanistan. Then, NATO troops would transfer the aid.
NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson supports increasing the role the alliance
could play in delivering aid.
Great Britain has long favored a humanitarian mission and its defense ministry has
drawn up plans for one. Italy offered 1,000 troops last week to be used primarily for
escort and humanitarian supply missions.
French President Jacques Chirac said last week that his country was ready to send
special forces to Afghanistan. Chirac also said he had asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi
Annan to convene an international conference "with all urgency" to bring
humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
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