SECRETARY RICE'S NATO INTERVENTIONS AND FACT SHEET

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 USNATO 000052 SIPDIS SIPDIS SECDEF FOR USDP, ASD/ISP (NATO POLICY) NSC FOR ANSLEY JOINT STAFF FOR ACJCS, J-5 USEUCOM FOR ECJ5-E E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OVIP RICE CONDOLEEZZA NATO MOPS PREL MARR AF PK SUBJECT: SECRETARY RICE'S NATO INTERVENTIONS AND FACT SHEET FROM INFORMAL MINISTERIAL JANUARY 26, 2007 USNATO 00000052 001.2 OF 006 ¶1. At the NATO Foreign Ministerial meetings held Friday, January 26, 2007, Secretary Rice addressed both a regular NAC and a NAC plus non-NATO Contributors and Partners. These interventions are repeated below "as prepared for delivery," along with an Afghanistan Fact Sheet which was made available to international press and delegations. ¶2. The following is the text of the Secretary's address to the NAC, as prepared for delivery: I know this meeting today was my suggestion, and I thank you for coming. We meet here today, two months after the Riga Summit, to discuss the top priorities of our alliance - the final status of Kosovo and our ongoing mission in Afghanistan. On Kosovo, now is the time to end its uncertain status. We support the efforts of Special Envoy Ahtisaari to reach a settlement that is acceptable to the people of Kosovo, and gives the region its best chance to achieve lasting stability. We must all stand united behind him. We must use the trust we have built with the Kosovo Albanians to secure their commitment to protect the rights and heritage of Kosovo's Serbian citizens. And to the Serbs, a majority of whom has now voted for a democratic future within Europe, we must offer a path to achieving that goal. We were right to offer Serbia membership in the Partnership for Peace at Riga, and now we must build that partnership and help Serbia chart its future in Europe. Continuing to leave Kosovo's final status in question will destabilize the region and threaten NATO forces deployed there. The people of Kosovo have waited eight years for a decision, and we must finish our mission. We must also achieve success in Afghanistan. In Riga, our leaders renewed our commitment to the Afghan people, and to the NATO mission. We must support a comprehensive approach to our challenges - military, yes, but more than that. We need to increase our efforts in reconstruction and development, counter-narcotics, and law and order, including army and police training. We need to improve coordination with the Afghan government, and among the international donor community. We need to provide the necessary forces - with the necessary flexibility - to protect the Afghan people and defeat the Taliban. And we need to work with Pakistan to cut off support that insurgents receive from some in the border regions. Pakistan needs and deserves our urgent attention. We must support President Musharraf's effort to move the country in a moderate and modern direction, to gain control of the border areas, and to advance development there. The United States will contribute significant resources this year to fund President Musharraf's 5-year development plan, and we urge others to join us. At the same time, we need to make clear to him that we expect effective action against Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters who operate in the border regions. As recent Pakistani military action demonstrates, President Musharraf is stepping up his efforts, and we must encourage that. The United States will do its share. We have already contributed over $14 billion for reconstruction and USNATO 00000052 002.2 OF 006 development in Afghanistan. Today, I want to inform you that President Bush will ask Congress to provide, in the next two years, over $2 billion in new resources for Afghanistan's reconstruction. Our goal is to help the Afghan government improve the quality of life for its people. So we will build roads and electricity grids, and support agricultural development. Working through PRTs, and with the Afghan government, we will build government and justice centers at the provincial level. We will train government personnel, and we will help meet local needs for markets, schools clinics, and other vital services. Our new resources will also help the Afghan effort to fight narcotics. President Karzai has already demonstrated his determination to lead a serious counter-narcotics effort this year, but to implement his ambitious plan, he needs increased Allied contribution to the counter-narcotics trust fund. The United States is dramatically expanding our commitment to this effort. But more is needed. I ask all of you seated at this table to devote significant, additional resources to ensure victory for the Afghan people. The United States will also continue to lead the military effort in Afghanistan, as the largest contributor to both the ISAF and the OEF operations, with some 20,000 troops in country. Today, I want to inform you that Secretary of Defense Gates plans to expand the U.S. military contribution, partly by extending the duty of troops already there, and partly through additional forces. This effort will help us build on NATO's hard-won successes, and provide the robust capability for NATO-ISAF to maintain the military initiative against the Taliban. We will make final decisions based on General Craddock's revised statement of military requirements for the mission, as well as the contributions of all Allies. Secretary Gates will be prepared to discuss the details of the increased U.S. contribution when he meets with Defense Ministers in Seville two weeks from now. But even with this new, U.S. contribution, more forces are needed. The Supreme Commander has clearly stated what is required for victory, and our European Allies must contribute the additional forces to fill that need as quickly as possible. Ultimately, the Afghan government must assume responsibility for security in the country, but it needs our help in building the necessary capacity. Today, I want to inform you that the President will request that Congress provide, in the next two years, $8.6 billion for the training and equipping of Afghanistan's National Security Forces - the army and police. Here, too, more is needed. And I ask all of you around this table to increase your contributions to strengthening the Afghan security forces. In our comprehensive approach, all elements - political, military, economic - must be joined together as part of an integrated whole. Military force is necessary for security, for without security, there can be no democracy, no development, no humanitarian relief. But we also recognize that political and economic progress are just as vital for victory. USNATO 00000052 003.2 OF 006 I know how difficult it is for all of our governments, including mine, to put our sons and daughters in harm's way, many miles away from home. But if we want to win in Afghanistan, then we must eliminate all obstacles to victory. We must lift all caveats limiting our force deployments, and we must do so now. No excuses, and no delay. We did this in Kosovo in March 2004, and we must do no less today in Afghanistan. Today, many around this table are doing more than their fair share. They are deployed in the most dangerous areas of southern Afghanistan. They are seeing the heaviest fighting, and they bearing the greatest cost. This is deeply unfair. Contributing the necessary forces for this mission, sharing this burden fairly among all the Allies, removing all national caveats -- this goes to the heart of what it means to be an Alliance. Let me be clear: There is only one goal that we can accept in Afghanistan, and that is victory - victory defined as democracy, as development, and just as important, as the military defeat of Taliban fighters. Nothing less will do. Victory can only be achieved if every single one of us is meeting our responsibilities - to the Afghan people, and to each other. I wish I could say that this is the case right now, but sadly it is not. So we all need to ask ourselves: What more can we be doing - not just to get by, but to win? Now is the time to act. We need greater solidarity, more money to support political reform and reconstruction, more resources for counter-narcotics, more troops, and no more caveats on their usage. That is asking no more than is required of us as the greatest alliance in human history. This is a defining moment for NATO. We are in a fight that we can win, and one that we must win, for success is our only option. ¶3. The following is the Secretary's intervention at the NAC for non-NATO Contributors and Partners, as prepared for delivery: Colleagues and Friends: The Transatlantic Alliance was founded in the ashes of war with a mission of security for a long peace. Our job in Europe is nearly done, though we have work to do in the Balkans. Yet, it was the dream of our predecessors that the principles for which we stand - liberty and opportunity, human dignity and human rights - would inspire a broader community of democracies, beyond Europe, with both the capability and the resolve to shape an international balance of power that favors freedom. Today we are realizing that aspiration. Gathered around this table we see the key members of a greater democratic community - our alliance's new global partners, Australia and New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, as well as three of the world's critical institutions: the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Bank. On this day, NATO headquarters is at the center of the wider democratic world. As democracies, we have a unique duty to help all who wish to join our ranks, as is the case, thousands of miles beyond Europe, in the nation of Afghanistan. Joining us today is Afghan Foreign Minister Spanta. I know that I speak for all of my colleagues, Mr. Minister, when I say how honored we are that you could be here at this important time for your country. As Foreign Minister Spanta has said, he and his fellow USNATO 00000052 004.2 OF 006 citizens have, in recent years, taken heroic steps to build a free society, one that reflects the cultures and customs of its people, rather than the foreign radicalism of the Taliban. And let's be clear: We are winning in Afghanistan. Afghan police officers are now enforcing laws made by a freely-elected parliament. New roads, new hospitals, and new jobs are giving fresh hope to a nation eager to prosper. Where before educating women was a "crime," now over 6 million children are back in school, 2 million of them young girls. We are winning, and that's why the Taliban is fighting back, and why the Afghan people depend on us to help them succeed. Let there be no doubt: Success in Afghanistan is measured in many ways - in political terms, in economic terms, in terms of human development. I agree with my European colleagues: Ours is a humanitarian mission, and military force alone cannot guarantee success. We all recognize this. At the same time, we must also recognize that political and economic progress depends on hard security. People cannot build better lives when life itself is threatened. The Taliban is doing everything in its power to impose a dark view of the world on the Afghan people, denying them the democratic future that they themselves have chosen. The violence we are seeing is not evidence that our strategy has failed, nor that the situation will improve in our absence; rather, it is evidence of how much we are needed. It is evidence that we must do more - and do it better, faster. We must protect innocent lives. We must stay, we must fight, and we must win. If there is to be a "spring offensive," it must be our offensive. It must be a political campaign, an economic campaign, a diplomatic campaign, and yes, a military campaign. Our strategy must be comprehensive: Our military and counter-narcotic efforts must create space for democracy and development to flourish in peace. At the same time, our political and economic assistance ensures that our soldiers' hard-won military victories will be lasting. These efforts must take place in harmony, and at the local level, where this struggle is being fought, and where it will be won or lost. All of us will share the benefits of Afghanistan's success, so we must also share the burdens of effort that success demands. Nations that have made pledges of support should follow through and deliver. America will do its part. President Bush will ask our Congress for an unprecedented increase in our assistance to Afghanistan over the next two years: $2 billion in new reconstruction assistance; and $8.6 billion to help train and equip Afghanistan's National Security Forces, its army and police. In addition, Defense Secretary Gates plans to expand the U.S. military contribution, partly by extending the duty of troops already there, and partly through extra forces. This effort will help us to build on NATO's hard-won successes, and to provide the robust capability for NATO-ISAF to maintain the military initiative against the Taliban. We will make final decisions based on General Craddock's revised statement of military requirements, as well as the contributions of all Allies. Secretary Gates will be prepared to discuss the details of the increased U.S. contribution when he meets with USNATO 00000052 005.2 OF 006 Defense Ministers in Seville two weeks from now. These are substantial new U.S. commitments - financial, military, and political - to advance our common effort in Afghanistan. Every one of us must take a hard look at what more we can do to help the Afghan people - and to support one another. We need greater commitments to reconstruction, to development, to fight the poppy economy. We need additional forces on the ground - ready to fight. And we need to provide greater support for the development of Afghan institutions, especially its security forces. This is a defining moment for Afghanistan, for NATO, and for our wider democratic community. Our nations and organizations have achieved our greatest success when we have married power and principle to achieve great purposes - not when we have dealt with the world as it is, but when we have sought to change the world for the better. This same spirit must guide our efforts today. We are transforming NATO into an alliance that its founders might not have recognized but would certainly have celebrated: an alliance of free nations, joined in common effort with other great democracies from across the globe, to support the growth of peace and freedom throughout the world. Now we must fulfill our commitment to success in Afghanistan - for in so doing, we will help a new democracy take root in the heart of a troubled region, and we will make a lasting contribution to the security of our world. ¶4. The Afghanistan Fact Sheet distributed to press follows: U.S. Support for Afghanistan: Fact Sheet on Assistance Efforts 2007: A Pivotal Year for Afghanistan In 2007, the international community must redouble its efforts to help the Afghan people rebuild their lives, and enable the government of Afghanistan to extend sound and accountable governance. Since 2001, the U.S. has provided over $14.2 billion in aid: nearly $9 billion in security assistance; $5.2 billion in reconstruction, humanitarian, and governance assistance. Because this is such a critical year for Afghanistan, Secretary Rice announced January 26 that the President would SIPDIS request from Congress an additional $10.6 billion in assistance over the next two years. The package includes: $2 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction, focused on the following key areas: - Roads, especially at the district level; - Electricity grids and generating capacity; - Rural development, irrigation, and agriculture; - Government centers, training personnel and meeting local needs through PRTs. - Strengthening all five pillars of the Afghan counternarcotics strategy: education, interdiction, eradication, law enforcement, and rural development. $8.6 billion for Afghanistan's National Security Forces -- the army and police, including: - Expanding the Afghan Army to 70,000 soldiers and providing them with better training and equipment; - Expanding the Afghan Police to 82,000 and providing them USNATO 00000052 006.2 OF 006 with better training, equipment and support as they deploy throughout the country. On the stability side, the U.S. is considering increasing its military commitment by extending the tours of some of the troops currently deployed in Afghanistan and possibly deploying additional troops. Final decisions will be made based on a revised statement of requirements expected soon from SACEUR. Force levels will be among the topics discussed at the February 8-9 informal meeting of Defense Ministers in Seville, Spain. The people and government of Afghanistan have made significant progress since 2001: - Free and fair election of a president in 2004, and of a parliament in 2005; - An educational system that features over 600 new schools, approximately six million students (including two million girls) - Economy is growing -- $1 billion in private foreign investment in 2006, twice the investment in 2005; - Creation of a multi-ethnic national army that is already producing results in the field; - Creation of a police force; and - Over 3,000 kilometers of roads around the country have been completed. NATO is succeeding in Afghanistan: - The NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF),operating under a UN mandate and with wide popular support, is providing security throughout all of Afghanistan; - 37 nations - all 26 Allies plus 11 non-NATO partners - are working together in a united effort; - 32,000 soldiers in ISAF, including nearly 13,000 U.S. troops (additional 10,000 U.S. troops in Operation Enduring Freedom); - 25 Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) support stability and reconstruction throughout Afghanistan. NULAND