NATO: reinforcements needed in Afghanistan

[Teflon]

Edmonton Journal - 07 Sept 06

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=1811339b-133f-40a2-8937-3ee5745021f1&k=31693

NATO: reinforcements needed in Afghanistan

Paul Ames, Associated Press
Published: Thursday, September 07, 2006
CASTEAU, Belgium -- NATO's top commander called on allied countries Thursday to send reinforcements to southern Afghanistan, saying the coming weeks could be decisive in the fight against the Taliban.

Gen. James Jones will meet top generals from the 26 NATO members Friday and Saturday in Warsaw, Poland, in an attempt to generate hundreds of new troops, with planes and helicopters needed for the mission.

"We have to give the (local NATO) commander additional insurance in terms of some forces that can be there, perhaps temporarily, to make sure that we can carry the moment," he said.

Asked in a telephone interview whether he would be looking for anything more from Canada; James told CBC Newsworld that Ottawa had "a great record of being one of the strongest supporters of our efforts there."

"My appeal will be, as it always is in these cases,  to nations in general," he said. "We will put a special appeal out to nations who have not contributed as much, who have the capacity to do more, but I think Canada has given very, very generously."

James also said he would "be remiss if I didn't take a moment to extend our condolences to the families of the brave Canadian soldiers who lost their lives and to those who have been wounded in the fighting."

James told Newsworld that he was "in total agreement" with Canadian Defence Minister Dennis O'Connor "that the ultimate solution in Afghanistan for the international community is not a military solution."

"We must bring needed reforms that only the international sector can provide... in reforms to the judicial system... there has to be capable and functioning police system."

"(But) until we affect all those issues together and start achieving real results, then the military solution is almost the only solution," he said.

Jones acknowledged that NATO had been surprised by the "level of intensity" of Taliban attacks since the alliance moved into the southern region in July and by the fact the insurgents were prepared to stand and fight rather than deploy their usual hit-and-run tactics.

Jones said, however, that he was confident that NATO troops could win the war.

"In the relatively near future, certainly before the winter, we will see this decisive moment in the region turn in favour of the troops that represent the government," Jones said at NATO's military headquarters in southern Belgium.

He told reporters he was confident the meeting in Warsaw would muster helicopters, transport planes and several hundred "flexible" reserve troops able to move quickly around the region in support of the operation against the Taliban.

"It will help us to reduce casualties and bring this to a successful conclusion in a short period of time," he said. "This is not a desperate move, it is more of an insurance package."

Jones said he wanted to "destroy" Taliban fighters now confronting the NATO mission before they head back into the mountains with the onset of winter within the next few weeks.

Although Jones said he was confident allies would respond to his appeal at the Warsaw meeting, he acknowledged that many NATO countries have been reluctant to commit troops to the NATO force, which has sustained increasing casualties in the last weeks.

Five Canadians soldiers have been killed and dozens wounded in fighting in a Canadian-led offensive against dug-in Taliban forces in the Panjawii area in the past week.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer backed Jones' call for allies to strengthen the NATO force, which currently has about 20,000 troops, including more than 2,000 Canadians.

"All allies should think how they can help," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Brussels.

Jones criticized the international community for not matching the military effort in Afghanistan with more economic help, assistance building up the police and judicial services and, in particular, help Afghan authorities tackle the country's burgeoning narcotics problem.

The casualty rate among NATO troops has shot up since they forces took control of southern Afghanistan in August, replacing a much smaller U.S. military operation in the region and placing large numbers of international troops in the Taliban's heartland.

"It's something akin to poking a bee hive and the bees are now swarming," Jones said.
"The violence that is ensuing is a contest that's going to decide in which way that region is going to go."

Jones said Taliban casualties "far outweigh" those suffered by NATO and he questioned whether the insurgents would be able to maintain their attacks.

The Taliban have dismissed NATO claims of high levels of insurgent casualties as "propaganda."

© Associated Press 2006

 

[Teflon]

Taliban holds sway in southern Afghan town
Second time in 2 months

Associated Press
Published: Thursday, September 07, 2006
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Taliban militants took over a southern police station after officers fled an Afghan town for a second time in two months, police said Thursday.

Under attack from Taliban forces, police on Wednesday left the remote Helmand province town of Garmser, which was briefly held by insurgents in July before a U.S.-led force reclaimed it, said district police chief, Ghulam Nabi Malakhail.

NATO spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said clashes did erupt in Garmser on Wednesday, but he was unaware that police had left the town.

Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said Taliban forces have occupied Garmser's police compound since police fled after a large group of insurgents surrounded it.

It was not immediately clear how many police or Taliban fighters were involved in the Garmser incident.

Taliban forces held Garmser for two days in July before U.S., British, Canadian and Afghan ground forces entered the town of about 50,000 people. Insurgents had fought 40 poorly armed police for 16 days before capturing it.

Many towns in Afghanistan's vast southern provinces are hard to properly police and Taliban fighters regularly stage attacks and flee back into the desert and mountains when military reinforcements arrive to combat them.

© Associated Press 2006

 

[big bad john]

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=40196

NATO members add more troops for Afghanistan


By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, September 21, 2006



ARLINGTON, Va. — Nearly two weeks after NATO’s top commander asked for additional troops to bolster operations against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, alliance members have offered close to the additional 2,000 to 2,500 personnel to fill out the mission roster.

“Numerically, we are in the ballpark,” U.S. Marine Gen. James L. Jones, NATO’s supreme allied commander, told Pentagon reporters Wednesday.

On Sept. 7, Jones asked NATO allies to send all of the troops and equipment they had originally pledged to southern Afghanistan for “Operation Medusa,” a head-to-head fight with a resurgent Taliban that Jones said had “surprisingly” abandoned its hit-and-run tactics for a change.

With only about 85 percent of the assets agreed to by NATO nations actually delivered, Jones met in Warsaw, Poland, with NATO military leaders to formally request the remaining assets on Sept. 8-9.

Jones said he was seeking a squadron of armed helicopters; two or three C-130s; intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance equipment; and a tactical theater reserve force of “roughly battalion size.”

On Wednesday, Jones said that Romania, Poland, the U.K., and Canada, along with countries he could not name, had stepped up to the plate.

“We still want some [attack] helicopters, we still want some more mobility” in the form of fixed-wing aircraft, Jones said, “but we’re close to 100 percent” of the original request in terms of troops, he said.

Jones said there was a delay between the time he asked for the forces and the time they were anted up because “countries needed more time to get parliamentary approval to make the offer.”

Overall, “this has been the best force-generation [effort] I’ve ever seen,” Jones said. “The fact that we’re near 100 percent is remarkable.”

But before the alliance could muster the additional forces, Operation Medusa came to an abrupt end: On Sept. 15, the Taliban’s spokesman in Afghanistan issued a statement to Islamic press outlets that said fighters had made a “strategic retreat” in southern Afghanistan.

“It was not a decision that was theirs alone, I assure you,” Jones said. “It was encouraged highly” by the NATO forces on the ground.

Despite the retreat, “I don’t think they’ve been totally defeated,” Jones said of the Taliban.

“We will continue to see them where there is less [central government and NATO] strength,” particularly in western Afghanistan, as well as “continuing to use their asymmetric tactics,” like attacking civilians, he said.

NATO troops will continue to push to find the remnants of the Taliban who left the battlefield in southern Afghanistan, which was an area about 35 miles west of Kandahar called the “Pashmul Pocket,” Jones said.

The goal is “to get them before [they fight] another full-scale battle,” Jones said.

 

[Teddy Ruxpin]

This is a bit misleading.  Romania, the UK and Canada are already heavily engaged, while the Poles merely repeated a previous commitment (to deploy in February) of troops to Eastern Afghanistan.

 

[tomahawk6]

Here is an article that is as distrubing as it is humorous.

Norway has made it clear that its forces in Afghanistan are not sufficiently trained to take part in combat and not properly equipped to do so either.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1456571.ece

No to NATO

The Norwegian Defense has refused to comply with NATO's plans to move nearly 300 Norwegian troops to southern Afghanistan.

The Norwegian soldiers, many of them fresh from basic training, were in danger earlier this month of being sent from the relatively calm north to escalating conflicts with the Taliban in the south.

NATO wants to shift more force to fight the Taliban in the area and sketched out a draft order that would move Norway's Quick Reaction Force from the north to Kandahar in the troubled south. There it would relieve an allied watch force which in turn would join the fight against the Taliban.

Defense Department spokesman Kjetil Eide in Oslo said that NATO had sent an 'inquiry' and not an 'order'. Norway's vice-admiral Jan Reksten decided to exercise the right of members to veto ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) orders.

"This was an assignment not in keeping with the what the Norwegian soldiers were sent to Afghanistan to do," brigadier Gunnar Gustavsen, chief of staff at the Joint Defense operative headquarters, told Aftenposten.

According to Aftenposten's sources, the NATO plan would not have meant using Norwegian soldiers in combat operations.

Norway has made it clear that its forces in Afghanistan are not sufficiently trained to take part in combat and not properly equipped to do so either.

 

[Trinity]

Great

I'm assuming these are infantry soldiers as per the article reads?

Then why were they sent?  Seriously.  If their job is combat then
having them sit there and do.... diddly squat is just stupid.

You'd think the troops would want to actually do something!!?!?  ???

 

[tomahawk6]

I read this from the same source. Looks like the government went a bit overboard in their recent "reorganization".

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1421095.ece

Military needs more troops

Just two years after a sweeping reorganization cut military staffing in Norway, the Defense Department is looking for more soldiers and junior officers, not least to answer the looming call for troops in the Middle east.

Norway already has troops deployed overseas in such trouble spots as Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, with the United Nations assembling a peacekeeping force for Lebanon, the Defense Ministry faces a shortage of experienced soldiers and officers.

The ministry (Forsvaret) thus needs to expand its ranks, and is sending personal letters to more than 1,000 of the junior officers laid off during the reorganization. Newspaper Aftenposten reported over the weekend that some senior officers are personally calling former underlings, asking them to come back.

"We need more Indians and fewer chiefs," said Espen Barth Eide, state secretary in the defense ministry.

Barth Eide said that the military already has become less top-heavy than it was, but demands both at home and overseas make recruiting necessary. The military also wants to usher in a generational shift, with younger officers keen to tackle new challenges.

It's widely expected that Norway, as a member of NATO and with a keen interest in the Middle East, will be called upon to send peacekeeping troops to Lebanon. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that Norway supported the UN resolution that brought about Monday's cease-fire, calling it a potential basis for lasting peace in the Middle East.

Norway's military is already evaluating how many troops it can contribute to the UN forces in Lebanon, so that it will be ready to respond quickly when a UN request for help comes.

"It's very important that all parties respect the ceasefire, because it can be the beginning of the end for this war that has cost far too many human lives," Stoltenberg told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).

 

[paracowboy]

Here is an article that is as distrubing as it is humorous.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1456571.ece

that article HAS to be either misconstrued, mistranslated, or just mistaken. We did an exchange with them buggers in '96 or '97, and they were just fine. (We kicked their butts, but then, hey...it was 3 RCR!)

 

[Teddy Ruxpin]

They were fine in Kabul Province in 2004/5 too - no issues at all.  Their CO was a fire-breather and my experiences with them were overwhelmingly positive.  I do know that they - like us - have manning issues and that they're trying to reorient their army towards a more expeditionary outlook.

 

[Cloud Cover]

Perhaps the skiing is better in the North, or the pickled herring doesn't taste too good with poo dust.   

 

[Blakey]

From the Norwegian Defence Site and the Chief of Defence.
http://www.mil.no/languages/english/start/article.jhtml?articleID=126782

A NATO request to send the Norwegian quick reaction force (QRF) to South Afghanistan was rejected by the Norwegian Defence. This because the QRF should be used for its main mission: to support allies in case of emergencies.
"The QRF in Mazar is supposed to help allies spread across North Afghanistan in case they need it. We therefore said no when ISAF asked us to use the force for a static guard mission in South Afghanistan," said the Chief of Defence Sverre Diesen.

Edited to add:...and if you can read Norwegian, here is a local article on the matter.
http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=130451

 

[a_majoor]

The spin that is being put on is a bit disturbing, reading the various accounts of the actions in theater I would say they need extra troops to REINFORCE SUCCESS, and prevent the Taliban forces from being able to regroup during the remainder of the campaign season.

When the campaign season ends, we will be positioned firmly over a larger swath of territory, and PRTs will be working busily to consolidate the gains we have made today. Next spring, our job will be a bit easier and their task a bit harder.

 

[GAP]

Was not the inclusion of the Vandoos to provide PRT security, or to release troops for that duty?

 

[Teddy Ruxpin]

We're (or more properly the press is) reading a lot into this that may not be there.  Judging by the statement of the Norwegian MOD, it is entirely possible that they were being asked by ISAF to move into a static "gate guard" role, rather than a more high-profile QRF function (even if it is in the north).  Gate guard is not typically a QRF task. 

One can imagine our reaction if we were asked to do the same...

Just some idle speculation from me.

 

[GAP]

I think this kinda goes in here as it is relevant to the mission

Political Will Key to NATO’s Success, Secretary-General Says
By John D. Banusiewicz American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1287

PORTOROZ, Slovenia, Sept. 28, 2006 – Military equipment, availability of troops and the alliance's willingness to use them are on the table here as NATO defense ministers meet today and tomorrow, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said here today.
“Over the next two days we have a chance to address the real political issues -- of resources, of available forces and, principally, of political will,” the secretary-general said in remarks opening the NATO defense ministerial conference.

Scheffer emphasized the need for NATO to succeed in its security and stabilization mission in Afghanistan. “In Afghanistan, NATO’s forces are conducting complex and challenging military operations,” he said, “and they are doing this with great courage and in a successful way.”

Afghanistan can move forward only if NATO’s efforts are successful, he said, and the stakes are high. “For the sake of the Afghan people, and indeed for all of us, security must prevail to allow reconstruction and development to proceed,” he said. “Opposing forces must be dealt with in a conclusive way. Afghanistan must never again become a launching pad for international terrorism.”

Among the key topics under discussion will be a timetable for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force to assume operational control of eastern Afghanistan, having already taken charge of the effort in the rest of the country.

“We must -- and I am sure we will -- finish the job and ensure the success of our operation in Afghanistan,” Scheffer said.

The secretary-general noted that students from all 26 NATO nations have been here for the past few days, discussing the issues the defense ministers will discuss.

“I was impressed by their dedication and the quality of the debate,” he said. “And I was reminded how the younger generation also take an interest in what this alliance is doing. They too stressed that NATO must stay the course in Afghanistan. And they noted that instability in that country would only serve to enable drug lords to continue to produce more of the opium that will be sold on our streets and blight their peers’ lives. We must not fail in Afghanistan, and that was also the conclusion of the students.”
More on link

 

[Teddy Ruxpin]

At the risk of re-igniting my almost pathological distain for European "armies" in Afghanistan, I can state categorically that this article has more than a grain of truth:

From today's Mail on Sunday (UK)
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=409179&in_page_id=1770

Nato troops party while British die on the front line

Nato troops in Afghanistan are staging nightly drinking and karaoke sessions as British soldiers are dying on the front line.

Exhausted British Paras returning from four months of battles against the Taliban - while enduring meagre rations and shortages of clean water - have been 'disgusted' to find other European troops partying at Kabul International Airport, known as KIA.

The Paras have even dubbed the base "KIA Napa" after Cyprus's notorious party resort, Ayia Napa.

Most Nato troops in Kabul are not sent to the front line because their governments have refused to put their lives at risk. They protect the airport and the capital instead.

British soldiers from 3 Para Battle Group, who have seen 41 comrades die in Afghanistan since the spring, say the airport is a 'haven' for parties for Italian, Hungarian, French, German and Belgian troops.

They are held in giant tents designed to cover military aircraft, or in huge containers that are transformed into makeshift nightclubs.

One Para sergeant who stayed at the airport last week after a tour in Helmand Province said Kabul was "like something out of a Vietnam war film where everyone is oblivious to what is going on elsewhere".

He added: "The clowns at the airport had no idea of what was going on in Helmand. An Italian invited us to a party where he said there would be a lot of chicks and plenty of action, then his French mate tried to pick a fight. I told my boys to keep away from them - losers.

"At a bar in the airport, soldiers sat in their pressed uniforms with beer in one hand and women in the other. We stood there with our mouths open. What a waste of rations."

Another British officer said: "The situation is causing a major split in the Alliance, as the UK, the US and a handful of other nations are seen to be doing all the work."

And a corporal with 3 Para said: "It is an insult to the rest of us who are mixing it with the enemy at close quarters. These people should just go home. They are on the lash every night and delivering very little to the operation."

But Mark Laity, Nato's spokesman in Kabul, said comments made by British troops were "highly exaggerated", "inaccurate" and "misleading".

He added: "Alcohol is not banned and it is common to find women in Nato forces. It should therefore be no surprise that in off-duty hours, men and women mix together while sharing a drink."

British General David Richards, commander of Nato's force in Afghanistan, added: "Away from the front line, living conditions are inevitably better, although still austere.

"The troops are still separated from their families and still work long hours. So when their day's work is done it would be churlish to begrudge them a break from their duties that is as pleasant as possible.

"But bad behaviour and excessive drinking will not be tolerated and are subject to disciplinary action."

 

[Mourning]

20-10-2006 
UITBREIDING TROEPEN URUZGAN
Nederland versterkt zijn militaire aanwezigheid in het zuiden van Afghanistan met ongeveer 130 man. Dat brengt het totaal op 1540 militairen. Als Nederland, onder leiding van generaalmajoor Ton van Loon, vanaf 1 november voor een halfjaar het commando voert over de ISAF-missie in het zuiden, komen daar volgens plan nog tweehonderd man extra bij. Het kabinet heeft dat vandaag besloten.

link:http://www.mindef.nl/actueel/nieuws/2006/10/20061020_uruzgan.aspx
source: Dutch Ministry of Defence

Ok, this is in Dutch and the english translation of the official Ministry of Defense page hasn't been published yet (will follow probably next week), so I will translate this small part of the article:

"October 20th 2006
Extra troops Uruzgan
The Netherlands reeinforces its military presence in the southern part of Afghanistan with about 130 troops. This brings the total number of troops there to 1540 soldiers*. When The Netherlands, under command of general major Ton van Loon, will take command of the ISAF-mission in the south from november 1st for a period of a half year their number will increase with an additional 200 troops."

The story further mentions a little over half these troops will be combat troops needed to provide a little extra force protection (triggering speculation with experts that these are additional commando special forces from either the Army of the Royal Marine Corps brought in to reeinforce the already deployed SF elements of the Army in Uruzgan), the other part will be extra technical troops to help cope with higher then expected technical problems with vehicles (wear and tear).

Not much, but better then nothing I guess, but considering we with the Brits and Canadians are one of the major players in southern Afghanistan I still find it akward that a country such as France just declared it will withdraw a sizeable part of its forces from Afghanistan instead of reeinforcing their prescence.

* excl. a few hundred troops that are part of a PRT in the centre of Afganistan, a mission that will end soon.

Regards,

Mourning  8)