Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07USNATO52
2007-01-30 15:30:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Mission USNATO
Cable title:  

SECRETARY RICE'S NATO INTERVENTIONS AND FACT SHEET

Tags:  OVIP RICE CONDOLEEZZA NATO MOPS PREL MARR AF 
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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


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