Category Archives: NATO

Mattis said that after talks with NATO allies at least 70 percent of the new plan's requirements were in place and he looked forward to bridging the remaining gap.

The U.S defense secretary James Mattis on Thursday called on NATO allies to finish the job in Afghanistan or risk terrorist revenge as the alliance confirmed a troop increase to counter a resurgent Taliban.

Mattis however refused to give a firm number for how many troops U.S President Donald Trump would commit under a new strategy, the AFP reported.

"I don't put timelines on war, war is a fundamentally unpredictable phenomenon," Mattis told reporters after meeting his counterparts from the 29-nation alliance.

"The bottom line is that NATO has made a commitment to Afghanistan for freedom from fear and terror, and freedom from terror demands that you can't let this be undone, he added.

Citing both Afghanistan and "ungoverned spaces" in Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State group has flourished, the retired Marine general added: "You cannot say 'I am tired of it' and come home and then you get hit again."

He said that after talks with the allies about 70 percent of the new plan's requirements were in place and he looked forward to bridging the remaining gap.

On Thursday night, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO and its allies have reconfirmed their commitment to Afghanistan and that they will sustain Resolute Support Mission beyond 2017.

Speaking at a press conference after Thursdays defense ministers meeting in Brussels, he said: Our military authorities have requested a few thousand more troops for the mission and today, I can confirm that we will increase our presence in Afghanistan.

We have recently seen brutal attacks in Kabul. In recent months, hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed. This is exactly why our presence is so important. So today, we reconfirmed our enduring commitment to Afghanistan. We will sustain our Resolute Support Mission beyond 2017.

NATO currently has 13,500 troops in Afghanistan in the Resolute Support mission to "train, advise and assist" Afghan troops.

Reports indicate that an increase of up to 3,000 was under considerations, while U.S officials say it might be nearer 4,000.

The United States, which once had more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, is preparing a new strategy for a war which has dragged on for 16 years and which even US generals concede is a "stalemate" at best.

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Pentagon Chief Says NATO Must 'Finish The Job' In Afghanistan - TOLOnews

MoD spokesman Dawlat Waziri said NATOs decision to send a few thousand more troops to Afghanistan will help with the implementation of the security plan.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has commended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for their commitment to support Afghanistan and to train the Afghan security and defense forces, saying that the organizations help is vital for the future of the country.

NATOs commitment to continue its support to Afghanistan and to our security forces is crucial for implementing the Defense Ministrys four-year security plan, the MoD's spokesman Major General Dawlat Waziri said at a press conference on Saturday.

Based on the plan, Waziri said the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANDCOP) and the Border Police would be merged with the Ministry of Defense.

He went on to say that according to the plan, the size of the Afghan Commando Unit would be doubled and upgraded to Corps level.

The Afghan Air Force would be equipped and reinforced, Waziri said when giving details about the four-year security plan.

He stressed the need for NATOs help to train and equip the Afghan forces so they could put the plan into practice. NATOs recent commitment to send a few thousand additional troops to Afghanistan will help us in this respect, Waziri said.

Last week, the acting defense minister Tariq Shah Bahrami attended NATOs defense ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

NATO allies reaffirmed their continued support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) to ensure security in the country.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the meeting that NATO and its allies have reconfirmed their commitment to Afghanistan and that they will sustain the Resolute Support Mission beyond 2017.

Our military authorities have requested a few thousand more troops for the mission and today, I can confirm that we will increase our presence in Afghanistan, Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Thursday.

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NATO's Support Crucial For MoD's Four-Year Plan: Waziri - TOLOnews

BRUSSELSDefense spending has increased significantly among NATO allies, a meeting of defense ministers from the Western alliance was told Thursday in Brussels. The meeting heard that, across European allies and Canada, there was a 4.3 percent real increase in defense spending, equivalent to about $12 billion. This means that over the last three years, NATO members spent almost $46 billion more on defense.

This is a significant increase, which means that we are moving in the right direction when it comes to burden-sharing and defense spending,"NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.We are making major progress. This will be the third consecutive year of accelerating defense investment across European allies and Canada.

Cyber defense

It was also confirmed at the meeting that a cyberattack, such as thoserecentlyobserved, can trigger Article 5NATOs mutual defense clauseof the North Atlantic treaty in the same way as a conventional military assault. It is believed the latest attack was designed to cause chaos rather than extort money. Ukrainian officials have pointed at Russia, which is fighting an undeclared war with Ukraine in the east of the country and has been blamed for previous cyberattacks on Kiev.

Anti-ISIS efforts

He also noted that NATOs presence in the Black Sea region is developing, adding: Earlier this week, the headquarters of our Multinational Brigade South East in Romania was activated as a NATO military body. The brigade is conducting exercises and U.K. jets are currently patrolling the regions skies.

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Defense spending increased 'significantly' among NATO allies - DefenseNews.com

With the seeming unraveling of the European Union the worry across the continent is whether NATO can survive and whether this post World War II organization linked to the EU is prepared to deal with the challenges of the 21st century. There is little doubt the NATO alliance faces security challenges more complex and demanding than at any time since the end of the Cold War.

Russia has flexed its military muscle in Crimea, the eastern Ukraine and Syria. It has tried to intimidate the Baltic states with the aggressive use of cyber-attacks and disinformation and has modernized its military hardware consistent with its hostile nature.

NATO has added to its defense portfolio with a clear anti-terror program against ISIS, al Qaeda and Boko Haram modifying its traditional mission.

And in a gesture to President Trump, it vowed to live up to the Defense Investment Pledge of spending 2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

NATO 2.0 is a combination of the old and the new, missions that have recently converged. Since 2014 NATO has conducted the most elaborate reinforcement of its collective defense since the end of the Cold War. This includes: forward presence in the eastern part of the alliances; rapid reinforcement capability; the strengthening of nuclear deterrence and cyber defenses and creating a Joint Intelligence and Security Division.

Are these steps sufficient to deter possible Russian aggression and terrorist threats? The only way to tell is by enemy inaction. For example, cyber-attacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated than in the past. They have reached a threshold where they can become as harmful as a conventional attack. Recent cyber incidents, including the WannaCry and Petya attacks, indicate the increasing threat posed by malicious state and nonstate actors. According to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) there are more than 30 sovereign states that have offensive cyber operation programs. Furthermore, these capabilities are increasingly in the hands of criminal and other nonstate actors.

Ensuring the security of Allies is not only about deterrence and defense in Europe. It is also about what happens beyond European borders. NATO has had extensive experience in projecting force through operations in the Balkans and Afghanistan. It is also involved in dealing with the continental migrant crisis. In fact, the steep decline in illegal migration between 2015 and 2016 is due to NATOs presence in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas in a program called Operation Sea Guardian. NATO claims to have formal partnership with over 40 countries and a range of international organizations.

Despite cavalier statements made during the campaign season, NATO is as important today as when it was created in 1948. However, any organization with a seven-decade history requires reexamination. NATOs mission should be carefully assessed along with troop deployments. The financial commitment of members should be reasserted.

Since the U.S. doesnt have resources or the inclination to be the worlds policeman to cite an unfortunate clich it can enhance its influence through multilateral organizations like NATO. In fact, NATO could serve as a model for fledging organizations in other parts of the world. In President Trumps Riyadh speech he made reference to an Arab NATO in the Middle East. Clearly this would probably not include Article 5, the proposition that an attack on one is an attack on all, but in most other respects the NATO architecture would be duplicated.

As I see it, NATO as the bulwark of defense for democratic institutions is critical. Europeans may believe they are capable of an independent force, but this view is misguided. Europe needs NATO as its first line of defense and the U.S. needs NATO to hold back the tide of terrorism.

Dr. Herb London is president of the London Center for Policy Research and is co-author with Jed Babbin of "The BDS War Against Israel."

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NATO 2.0 - Europe and America's first line of defense against Russia and terror - Fox News

BRUSSELS Nearly three years after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ended combat operations in Afghanistan, the 29-nation alliance willsend troops once more into the country withhopes that the renewed surge will help the Afghan military beat back a resurgent Taliban.

Speaking ahead of a defense ministerial meeting here Thursday, NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg saidthousands of troops have been requested, but he did not say how many would deploy.

With the Taliban in control of broad swaths of the country and the Afghan military locked in a primarily defensive war, it is unclear how a new infusion of NATO or U.S. forces could radically turn the tide of the conflict.

Fifteen nations have already pledged additional contributions to Resolute Support Mission. And I look forward to further announcements from other nations, Stoltenberg said, using the name of the NATO mission to Afghanistan.

[Trump gives Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan]

Stoltenberg stressed that NATOs renewed presence did not mean the beginning of another combat mission; instead, he said, the alliancewill focus on building the Afghan special operation forces, air force and othermilitary training institutions.

We dont think this operation in Afghanistan is going to be easy and we dont think its going to be peaceful this year or next year or in the near future, he said during a newsconference Thursday afternoon. As long as the Taliban believe they can win the war they will not negotiate. We need to break the stalemate and to enable the Afghans to made advances.

Stoltenbergs remarks come as the United States weighs its own commitment in what has become its longest-running war. In recent weeks, President Trump delegated authorities to the Pentagon to set troop levels in the Afghanistan, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has pledged to present a strategy to Congress by mid-July. Earlier this month, the retired four-star Marine general told lawmakers that the United States was not winning, and battlefield commanders, including the head of U.S. forcesin Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, have requested a few thousand more troops.

Mattis said Thursday during a news conference that he had received 70 percent of the commitments from NATO countries for his upcoming strategy and was confident that he would be able to secure the rest in the coming weeks. Mattis gave no timeline for Americas renewed commitment to Afghanistan and suggestedthat NATO had drawn down too early in 2014.

Its not like you can declare a war over, Mattis said. What is the price of not fighting this war? And in thatcase were not willing to pay that price.

[Mattis: We are not winning in Afghanistan]

With a Taliban insurgency that has proven resilient despite heavy battlefield losses, lawmakers in Washington and some NATO allies remain waryof any new military solution in Afghanistan.

In an interview, Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said his country has received the request for more troops but has not yetdecided to pledge any additional forces.

Canadian soldierswithdrew from Afghanistan completely in 2014, after participating in several bloody campaigns around Kandahar in 2006 and a limited training mission after 2011. Between 2001 and 2014, more than 150 Canadian troops died in Afghanistan.

With no physical presence in the country, Canada has instead continuedto provide financial support to the Afghan security forces.

Afghanistan is obviously very important to us, and were going to monitor the situation, Sajjan said. The military is not going to give you that complete victory. It takes an entire whole of government approach for it; the real solution will come from the political side.

[Whats your end game? Trump delegating Afghan war decisions to the Pentagon faces scrutiny]

BritishDefense Secretary Michael Fallon told a group of reporters during the ministerial meeting Thursday that Britain was in Afghanistan for the long haul and would sendjust under 100 additional troops to help prop up Afghan forcesaround Kabul, bringing the total number of British soldiers in the country to around 600. In the last year, the Afghan capital has been rocked by a spate of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds.

Mattis said he would take what he learned from his NATO counterparts atthe defense ministerial back to Washington and deliverhis formal strategy to Trump in the coming weeks.

Currently there are roughly 13,500 NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The Americans number around 8,500 and are split between counterterrorism operations and supporting the NATO-led training mission. At the wars height in 2010 and 2011 there were more than 100,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

More than 2,000 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan since 2001, and Afghan security forces continue to take an almost unsustainableamount of casualties despite U.S. air support. Civilians, however, have borne the brunt of the violence, with 2016 marking the deadliest year for the Afghan population since the United Nations mission to the country began monitoringthe statistics in 2009.

Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report. This story was originally published at 9:17 a.m. and updated to include remarks from Defense Secretary Mattis and other officials in Brussels.

Read more:

Band-Aid on a bullet wound: What Americas new war looks like in Afghanistans most violent province

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'What is the price of not fighting this war?': Mattis makes his pitch to get more NATO troops in Afghanistan - Washington Post

Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas is President Donald Trump's pick to be NATO ambassador. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

By Negassi Tesfamichael

06/29/2017 05:54 PM EDT

Updated 06/29/2017 06:21 PM EDT

President Donald Trump has chosen former Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas to be the next NATO ambassador, the White House announced on Thursday.

Hutchison, 73, served in the Senate for 20 years until she decided not to run in 2012.

Story Continued Below

Hutchison's nomination to be the U.S. representative to the military alliance comes amid scrutiny of the organization from Trump. The president demanded in May that NATO member nations meet commitments to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, saying that failure to do so is unfair to U.S. taxpayers.

Trump had also been slow to announce support for Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which guarantees that all member nations will come to the aid of any member that has been attacked. The president publicly voiced his support weeks after his speech to NATO members in May.

Richard Grenell, a prominent Trump supporter and former United Nations official, was previously reported to be the front-runner for the NATO ambassador job. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, however, was said to prefer Hutchison for the role.

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Trump nominates Kay Bailey Hutchison as next NATO ambassador - Politico

Brussels - Four international battalions stationed in eastern Europe are now ready to respond to any Russian "aggression", the defence ministers from eight NATO countries said on Thursday.

Germany, Britain, the United States and Canada currently lead four multi-national "battlegroups" in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, as tripwires against possible Russian adventurism.

"Today, we declare that (these battalions) are ready and able to deter and, if necessary, immediately respond to any aggression in concert with national forces underpinned by a viable reinforcement strategy," the defence ministers said in a joint statement at a Brussels summit.

Under a programme called the Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP), NATO deployed the battalions in Poland and the Baltic states, a region formerly under Moscow's control, following alarm over Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria.

Adding to tensions, Russia is preparing massive military exercises in its west in September, and has deployed a missile system in the neighbouring enclave of Kaliningrad.

NATO agreed at a 2016 summit in Warsaw to boost NATO's military presence along the alliance's eastern flank.

The four battalions, which deploy on a rotational basis, total about 4 500 troops from 15 member nations and train constantly to improve co-ordination and conduct joint exercises.

The EFP "is a direct response to Russia's aggressive actions, including provocative military activities in the periphery of NATO territory, which have reduced stability and security, increased unpredictability, and changed the security environment," the joint declaration said.

United NATO

"We welcome the fact that we are making progress both when it comes to our enhanced forward presence in the Baltic States and Poland," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

"And we continue to strengthen our presence in the Black Sea region."

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis last month visited the German-led battlegroup in Lithuania, where he saw troops from Belgium, Norway, America and other nations show off tanks and other gear.

"This is a profound example of a united NATO," Mattis said at a meeting with his German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, when he announced ongoing US support for the initiative through 2020.

"Our alliance has long been a stabilising force in Europe. It helps preserve the rules-based international order."

Separately, the United States, Britain and Norway signed a joint statement of intent to lay out "guiding principles" for a trilateral partnership with their P-8A Poseidon submarine hunters "to address the changing security environment in the North Atlantic".

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NATO battalions ready to deter Russia - News24

Computer users around the world were scrambling to reboot systems after a tidal wave of ransomware cyberattacks spread from Ukraine and Russia across Europe to the United States and then on to Asia. (AFP Photo/DAMIEN MEYER)

Brussels (AFP) - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned the alliance must step up its defence against cyberattacks, saying they could potentially trigger their Article 5 mutual defence commitment.

Computer users around the world were scrambling Wednesday to reboot systems after a tidal wave of ransomware cyberattacks spread from Ukraine and Russia across Europe to the United States and then on to Asia.

It seemed to be very similar to the WannaCry ransomware which hit more than 200,000 users in more than 150 countries last month.

Stoltenberg said the "attack in May and this week just underlines the importance of strengthening our cyber defences and that is what we are doing."

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"We exercise more, we share best practices and technology and we also work more and more closely with all allies," he told reporters ahead of a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday at which cyber-security will be a key talking point.

Stoltenberg recalled that NATO leaders had agreed last year that a cyber attack could be considered a threat sufficiently serious to warrant invoking the alliance's 'all for one, one for all' security guarantee.

They also made cyber a NATO domain -- on a par with the traditional air, sea and land arms to become part of overall alliance planning and resource allocation.

NATO was also helping Ukraine, the country first hit by Tuesday's cyberattack, with its online defences, Stoltenberg said.

In the NATO context, the greatest fear is that another state would attack an ally's networks to undermine key industrial and civil society infrastructure without firing a shot.

In the event, however, it seems non-state actors may be able to cause just as much mayhem.

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NATO says cyber attacks a call to arms - Yahoo News

One of US President Donald Trump'srepetitive complaints about NATO was that the military alliancewasn't addressing what he considers the major threat facing the world: terrorism. In an evolution that was already underway, but quickened underthe harsh glare from Washington, the alliance has repackagedsome of its activities and taken new steps to maximize its counterterrorism contributions.

Traditionally, counterterrorism was not in NATO's job description. But neither was figuring out how to deal with "little green men" [masked, unmarked, and green-cladsoliders in the 2014 Ukraine crisis] or internet trolls. The alliance is evolving to respond not only togenuine new and hybrid threats, but also topublicexpectations of its role as a security provider.

NATO's new role

That NATO must take on un-envisioned roles isjust the way it is, explained Bruno Lete, a transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund's Brussels office.

"NATO member states recognize this is not NATO's core business," he said. "Nevertheless the reality of today's threats require the alliance to think more creatively [about]how it can engage in this field as well, so I think it's positive that NATO tries to play a helpful role in counterterrorism, even if its contribution concerns mainly indirect measures."

The alliance has indeed made a dramatic shift in just the last couple of years. The most obvious example is in its approach to the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS [the US government's favoredacronym for the "Islamic State"].

In 2014, when the multinational coalitionwas created, some NATO allies were uncomfortable with the mere fact that the alliance'sheadquarters would beused for a coalition meeting. Germany in particular insisted that there would be no NATO connection to the effort; no NATO logos allowed in any media coverage,which was kept minimal. NATO officials explained repeatedly in the following yearsthat there was no "need" to join the coalition itself since all allies already belonged.

Not only that, NATO would remind everyone thatit was fully engaged leadingthe ongoing counterterrorism effort known as thewar in Afghanistan. NATO troops and partners are still going head-to-head with the Taliban and the relatively newly arrived IS fighters, andmore troops are still needed.

But with the added pressure from the Trump administration bearing down on NATO, arguments against joining the coalition were ultimately outweighed by the practical and political advantages, andlast month the alliance finally slid into a seat of its own at the coalition table.

Speaking on Wednesday, the day beforea defense ministerial meetings, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg touted the decision. "This not only sends a strong message of unity in the fight against terrorism," he said, "it also serves as a platform for practical cooperation. NATO is now fully integrated into the information-sharing and decision-making structures of the coalition." NATO had already agreed to a US request to make more use of the one AWACS aircraft allocated to coalition surveillance efforts.

Stoltenberg was also able to announce the activation of a new "Terrorism Intelligence Cell" within the recently created Intelligence Division that will help coordinate information and activities among allies. Other measures cited as counterterrorism contributions include expanded training of Iraqi forces andsoon-to-comeassistance for the UN-recognized Libyan government.

Daniel Keohane, a senior esearcher at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, says the steps are mostly cosmetic. "Part of this is NATO adapting to Trump, showing its worth on his priority issue of defeating ISIS," Keohane told DW. "It gives the new US president an easy political win to sell at home: 'see I got NATO to do more to fight ISIS'. But I don't yet see how this will greatly change how the allies are fighting ISIS outside of Europe."

Public insecurity about -- and US focus on -- the Islamic State has led NATO to include more counter-terrorism measures among its activities.

When it comes to fighting terrorism on its own territory, which is instinctively the priority of citizens in allied countries, the hurdles are also high for NATO to provide true added value. European governments are notoriously reluctant to share intelligence with each other, especially on issues as sensitive as terrorism, and do so almost exclusively bilaterally. Such issues remain in the hands of national governments, and within them, with police and security forces and the judicial branch.

Jan Techau, director of the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum for the Study of Diplomacy and Governance at the American Academy in Berlin, says the new counter-terrorism initiative are not entirely pointless but neither will they be particularly effective. His bigger point is that counter-terrorism should not be confused with NATO's core task of providing stability, nor should resources, including time and attention, be diverted to it.

"We should be debating other strategic issues including transatlantic solidarity," Techau told DW."We should not be discussing turning NATO into the primary agency for fighting terrorism,"

Techau says for NATO territory to truly be secure, innovations such as a new intelligence coordination cell inside alliance HQ won't help. "Transatlantic security ultimately is decided in the White House," he said. "And and so as long as there is lingering doubt about whether the person occupying the White House is fully dedicated to it or not, as long as that risk is still kind of looming in the background we do have at least a lingering crisis if not a real one."

Pew Research Center statistics from a poll taken this week shows high levels of doubt in the Trump Administration from NATO nations and beyond.

But perhaps theTrump pressure has helped the alliance in other ways. A separate Pew survey shows opinions of NATO have sharply risen on both sides of the Atlantic.

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NATO: We will do more to fight terrorism - Deutsche Welle

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

NATO Announces Deployment of More Troops to Afghanistan Wall Street Journal (subscription) BRUSSELSThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced Thursday it would send additional forces to Afghanistan, as European officials said they would press the visiting U.S. defense secretary for details on Washington's strategy to curb the rising ... and more »

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NATO Announces Deployment of More Troops to Afghanistan - Wall Street Journal (subscription)