NATO seeks options for support
of Afghanistan humanitarian actions
By Gregory Piatt,
Belgium bureau
MONS, Belgium — After a week of debate, NATO has asked its top military command to
come up with possible scenarios where alliance troops and equipment could support
humanitarian actions in and around Afghanistan, an alliance official said Tuesday.
"We want to be ready if it is necessary for us to do so," the official said
on condition of anonymity.
The request by the alliance’s policy-making body of 19 ambassadors, the North
Atlantic Council, will have military planners at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers
dust off its plans for several types of humanitarian aid missions and adapt them to the
current situation in Central Asia, a NATO diplomat said the condition of anonymity.
In those plans, North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops, which could include some
European-based U.S. troops, could do anything from flying aid to the region to providing
security for aid convoys or setting up refugee camps.
The current request by the Council wouldn’t automatically put troops on the
ground, the official said. Any NATO humanitarian action would only be taken if a request
was made by the United Nations, the official added. That request could come on or before
next Tuesday, when the United Nations holds a conference about humanitarian aid and
reconstruction in Afghanistan.
The Council wants to have several options in hand so, when NATO is asked by the U.N.,
it can act, the official explained. After a U.N. request, it would take another Council
decision to activate any mission, the official added.
The allies recognize the need to get aid to the region, especially now that the
military advances in Afghanistan have outpaced the political agreements to put a
broad-based government in the country and coordination for a humanitarian mission.
The U.N. considers Afghanistan to be on the verge of a horrible humanitarian crisis.
About 7.5 million Afghans are facing hunger and homelessness as winter approaches.
"The U.N. or aid agencies don’t have an airlift capability, and this would
make NATO assets available," the NATO diplomat said.
The alliance was frustrated without a role in the U.S. campaign that is seeking to oust
the Taliban regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden and elements of his al-Qaida terrorist
network. Mounting humanitarian operations is a way to get NATO into the action, NATO
officials said.
But after the United States asked NATO last week to have SHAPE begin planning, some
allies had mixed feelings about the alliance extending its activities far from the
alliance’s area of responsibility. The allies were also concerned NATO’s
activities were extended to humanitarian assistance, since they thought the European Union
would be better placed to handle such action.
But others argued the alliance has the best logistics and planning system and could
deliver aid more efficiently.
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