PREVIEW: Afghanistan tops NATO defence ministers' Istanbul agenda

By Alvise Armellini Feb 2, 2010, 18:18 GMT

Brussels - Afghanistan is set to dominate discussions between NATO defence ministers in Istanbul on Thursday and Friday, in the wake of a recent call by the alliance's chief for more efforts to train local army and police officers.

The meeting takes place under a mood of cautious optimism, as for the first time since it was launched eight years ago, NATO's United Nations-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan is set to receive nearly all the troops deemed necessary to defeat the Taliban-led insurgency.

However, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen signalled that the projected rise in overall troop numbers by about 40,000 to over 120,000 soldiers over the course of 2010 - fulfilling the target set by ISAF's commander, US General Stanley McChrystal - does not mean calls for more boots on the ground are over.

'I will not exclude the possibility that we will need additional contributions on top of what we have already seen,' he said on Monday.

The former Danish prime minister pointed out that NATO allies still need to find 21 more army training teams, known as OMLeTs, and over 100 police training teams, or POMLeTs, in order to bring the Afghan forces up to the current requirements.

According to diplomats, training 'is set to be the core' of the discussions on Afghanistan, but ISAF nations will also review progress on the strategy aimed at transferring direct responsibility for security to the Afghan army.

'While our requirements for combat forces have, in general, been met, we still need more trainers for our training mission ... I will continue to push hard on this,' Rasmussen insisted.

He indicated some nations may be asked to 'reconfigure their contribution' so that fewer soldiers are sent to fight the Taliban and more are deployed for training purposes, arguing that 'the more we invest in this transition now, the sooner the date when the Afghans can take responsibility themselves.'

According to a rough estimation by NATO diplomats, 2,000 to 2,400 men are needed to make up for the shortfall. Even bigger numbers are required to increase the Afghan security forces to a total of 305,000 men by the autumn of 2011, a target agreed at a major international conference in London on January 28.

The launch of an internationally backed fund to pay 'moderate' insurgents to lay down their arms, as well as the approval of a new international strategy that lays greater emphasis on strengthening local institutions, have renewed hopes in the West that an end may be in sight in Afghanistan after years of bloody fighting.

'2010 will be a decisive year, it will be challenging and there will be many bad days, but I'm confident that we have the strategy, the resources and the momentum we need,' Rasmussen said.

The Afghan discussions are scheduled for Friday morning, and will include McChrystal, the 15-odd non-NATO members that take part in ISAF, the Afghan defence and interior ministers, the EU's foreign policy supremo, Catherine Ashton, and the outgoing UN Special Envoy in Kabul, Kai Eide.

The ministers' meeting is due to start on Thursday evening with a dinner on so-called transformation, which aims to streamline NATO's structures and rationalize its spending.

Several nations are keen to put a brake on unbudgeted military projects, given the strain the financial crisis has placed on defence budgets. Rasmussen suggested instead to save money by pooling resources on helicopters, medical facilities and equipment to protect against improvised exploding devices (IEDs), the source of 70 per cent of NATO casualties in Afghanistan.

On Friday, Kosovo is also on the agenda. Ministers are due to take note of the February 1 decision to cut troops there to 10,200, and confirm those numbers could be further reduced to 5,700 by the end of the year if the situation in the former Balkan hotspot remains sufficiently calm.

The two-day informal reunion will be hosted by Turkish Defence Minister Mehmet Vecdi Gonul, representative of a government that last year opposed Rasmussen's appointment as secretary general. 'That's a closed chapter,' a source close to NATO's chief told the German Press Agency dpa.