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NATO to Lease 20 Helicopters to Fill Afghan Shortfall
James G. Neuger, Bloomberg wire service, 22 Oct 07
Article link
NATO will lease about 20 transport helicopters to fill a gap in the Afghanistan mission and relieve an overstretched U.S. unit, alliance officials said.
Negotiations over a leasing contract are in the final stages, three NATO officials told reporters under condition of anonymity today. The non-combat helicopters would be used to shuttle equipment and ammunition around the Afghan battlefields.
The leasing arrangement would be unusual for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, reflecting the strain on allied armed forces as the Afghan war heads into the seventh year with the radical Taliban movement far from vanquished.
``Pressures on troop numbers in all of our nations are exceptionally high,'' John Colston, NATO assistant secretary general for defense policy and planning, said at a news conference in Brussels today.
NATO's 41,000 troops are battling to hold ground seized from the Taliban in the south and east of Afghanistan, with Canada and the Netherlands weighing full or partial pullouts unless other allies send more combat troops.
Transport Shortage
Faced with the transport shortage, the U.S. in June extended the deployment of a helicopter unit in Kandahar until the end of 2007 and insisted that NATO plug the holes by then. The leasing pact would free the U.S. helicopters for combat, troop transport and the ferrying of wounded soldiers.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates today criticized allies for failing to make good on commitments for Afghanistan and said he will increase the pressure at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Noordwijk, Netherlands, on Oct. 24 and 25.
``I am not satisfied that an alliance whose members have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen cannot find the modest additional resources that have been committed for Afghanistan,'' Gates said in Kiev today, the Associated Press reported.
The U.S. drove the Taliban from power a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. As the military turned its attention to Iraq, the U.S. has relied on equally hard-pressed NATO allies to consolidate gains in Afghanistan.
Britain, Canada
The U.S., Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are doing the bulk of the combat in the hard-fought south and east of Afghanistan, while Germany, France, Spain and Italy restrict their troops to quieter sectors.
NATO is trying to hand more of the battle to the Afghan army, now halfway to a goal of 70,000 troops. Gates will push allies to send more instructors to train Afghan recruits. Currently NATO has fielded only about 20 army-training teams, short of a goal of 46.
Defense ministers will focus on ``how best to support Afghan capacity,'' Colston said.
To contact the reporter on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 22, 2007 12:09 EDT
NATO to Lease 20 Helicopters to Fill Afghan Shortfall
James G. Neuger, Bloomberg wire service, 22 Oct 07
Article link
NATO will lease about 20 transport helicopters to fill a gap in the Afghanistan mission and relieve an overstretched U.S. unit, alliance officials said.
Negotiations over a leasing contract are in the final stages, three NATO officials told reporters under condition of anonymity today. The non-combat helicopters would be used to shuttle equipment and ammunition around the Afghan battlefields.
The leasing arrangement would be unusual for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, reflecting the strain on allied armed forces as the Afghan war heads into the seventh year with the radical Taliban movement far from vanquished.
``Pressures on troop numbers in all of our nations are exceptionally high,'' John Colston, NATO assistant secretary general for defense policy and planning, said at a news conference in Brussels today.
NATO's 41,000 troops are battling to hold ground seized from the Taliban in the south and east of Afghanistan, with Canada and the Netherlands weighing full or partial pullouts unless other allies send more combat troops.
Transport Shortage
Faced with the transport shortage, the U.S. in June extended the deployment of a helicopter unit in Kandahar until the end of 2007 and insisted that NATO plug the holes by then. The leasing pact would free the U.S. helicopters for combat, troop transport and the ferrying of wounded soldiers.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates today criticized allies for failing to make good on commitments for Afghanistan and said he will increase the pressure at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Noordwijk, Netherlands, on Oct. 24 and 25.
``I am not satisfied that an alliance whose members have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen cannot find the modest additional resources that have been committed for Afghanistan,'' Gates said in Kiev today, the Associated Press reported.
The U.S. drove the Taliban from power a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. As the military turned its attention to Iraq, the U.S. has relied on equally hard-pressed NATO allies to consolidate gains in Afghanistan.
Britain, Canada
The U.S., Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are doing the bulk of the combat in the hard-fought south and east of Afghanistan, while Germany, France, Spain and Italy restrict their troops to quieter sectors.
NATO is trying to hand more of the battle to the Afghan army, now halfway to a goal of 70,000 troops. Gates will push allies to send more instructors to train Afghan recruits. Currently NATO has fielded only about 20 army-training teams, short of a goal of 46.
Defense ministers will focus on ``how best to support Afghan capacity,'' Colston said.
To contact the reporter on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 22, 2007 12:09 EDT