NATO military chief says nations must end Afghan troop restrictions

Nov 22, 2006, 12:14 GMT

Brussels - NATO's top military commander on Wednesday urged allies to lift restrictions on the use of troops in Afghanistan and called for stepped-up reconstruction efforts in the violence-battered country.

General James Jones, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, said a meeting of the alliance's leaders in Riga on November 28-29 would confirm that Afghanistan was NATO's 'number one priority.'

But NATO's increasingly difficult Afghan mission was being hampered by so-called caveats or restrictions on troop movements imposed by nations with soldiers in the country, he warned.

'Removing caveats is tantamount to raising more forces. You have more capability,' Jones told reporters.

Jones, who is retiring next month, said governments had the right to attach some conditions on the deployment and use of their soldiers.

However, there were some 'operationally restrictive' caveats - the requirement for national approval for the movement of troops, for example - which must be lifted.

The NATO commander said the alliance had been partially successful in convincing some countries to end such restrictions. Pleas for more such moves would be made in Riga.

NATO experts say alliance members with troops in the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan have imposed hundreds of caveats - covering up to 17 pages - on the use of their soldiers.

Those imposing such limits include Germany which has 2,700 troops working in a provincial reconstruction team in the relatively quiet northern city of Kunduz.

Berlin has said repeatedly that it had no intention of changing its Afghan mandate by deploying soldiers in the more volatile southern part of the country.

But with NATO engaged in intense combat with insurgents in the south, Berlin is under intense pressure from the US and Canada to review its stance.

Jones also insisted that NATO leaders must focus on rebuilding Afghanistan, upgrading the country's security forces and fighting drug trafficking and crime.

'Our goal is to stabilize the region and to bring about security, stability and reconstruction,' said Jones, adding: 'We would like to make the Afghans responsible for their future.'

However, 'we will not be successful overnight,' he cautioned.

Jones said the focus must be on Afghanistan's 'narcotics problem, judicial reform and on developing the quantity and quality of local police.'

Efforts must centre on fighting corruption and imposing the rule of law, he insisted.

While some of the violence was the result of attacks by the Taliban, NATO was also concerned about the rise of crime and drugs trafficking in Afghanistan, Jones said.

'We have to reverse the trend,' he underlined, adding: 'The influence of narcotics is all encompassing in that society. It affects the functioning of the economy,it affects the corruption of officials, it fuels the engine of violence, it pays salaries of fighters.'

NATO's focus on reconstruction - including in the violence-ridden south - would help create a more secure environment, Jones insisted.

Jones' message is expected to be repeated in Riga by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

The NATO secretary general has also warned in recent weeks that the international community must beef up its non-military presence to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Afghans.