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["Alliance officials...wouldn't push for a NATO role unless it was asked by the United Nations"?! Perhaps the writer meant to say the United States. Not all NATO members are created equal. The real power structure may be expressed as being the NATO Quint minus one, plus one; that is, the United States, Britain, German and France, though not Italy, with Turkey taking the latter's place.] Saturday, March�16, 2002 Britain, allies talking about 'range of options' for Afghanistan peacekeeping By Greg Piatt, Stars and Stripes European edition, Saturday, March 16, 2002 BRUSSELS, Belgium � British officials are informally discussing with its allies NATO's future role in a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, a British Foreign Office official said on Friday. "The U.K. is not pushing for a NATO role," the British official told Stars and Stripes on the condition of anonymity. "But these are informal soundings we are having with allies; nothing substantive has resulted yet." One of the options being discussed is to have military planners at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the alliance's top command in Mons, Belgium, plan the mission by providing such things as force structures, support and resources, the British official said. "This is one of a range of options we are discussing with allies," the British official said. The official declined to identify other options or which allies the British government is talking to and whether it was talking in the forum of North Atlantic Treaty Organization or among the coalition of allies in the war on terrorism. So far, there has been no formal discussion at alliance headquarters on this idea, a NATO official said. A request to assign an Afghan task force to SHAPE would first have to be discussed and decided by the North Atlantic Council, the alliance's ruling body of 19 ambassadors. One NATO diplomat declined to comment on the British idea since it has not been brought before the Council. "The follow-on role is something being contemplated in London," the diplomat said. A second NATO diplomat said the discussion right now is between capitals and not in the corridors of the alliance headquarters. "The discussion is about what NATO assistance could be given to a country and not to the whole force," the second diplomat said on the condition of anonymity. "So there would be no NATO footprint on the ground." The last time a NATO role in Afghanistan was raised was in the fall. Alliance officials had SHAPE develop plans for several types of missions but wouldn't push for a NATO role unless it was asked by the United Nations. That request never came and weak support among several allies put the plans on the back burner. On Thursday, officials from Britain, the United States and Turkey, all NATO allies, met to discuss Turkish command of the follow-on peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. Britain currently leads the peacekeeping force � called the International Security Assistance Force � but is keen to hand over command as soon as possible. The British official said there was no information from this Thursday's meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on whether any of these three NATO allies would put forth alliance involvement before the North Atlantic Council. Hussein Diri�z, spokesman for Turkey's Foreign Affairs Ministry, didn't confirm a NATO role if and when his military takes command of the force. Turkey wants clear command of the peacekeeping force, Diri�z told Stars and Stripes during a phone interview from the European Union Summit in Barcelona, Spain. But Diri�z added that Turkey wants NATO and the international community to agree on rules of engagement. Currently, the British-led force has 5,000 troops from mainly NATO countries and is limited to the Afghan capital. However, the leader of Afghanistan's interim government, Hamid Karzai, has asked the U.N. Security Council to expand the 18-nation force and deploy it beyond the capital when the current mandate expires. The United States holds overall command of the war effort in Afghanistan, including the peacekeeping operation, and Britain has day-to-day command of the force in Kabul. If the peacekeeping force is expanded, other countries might lead troops in various Afghan cities with the United States maintaining overall command, diplomats said earlier this month. But if NATO gets a role, what is unknown is whether SHAPE, whose top officer is an American wearing a NATO hat, or the Central Command in Tampa, Fla., will be responsible for this force. Terry Boyd contributed to this report from Izmir, Turkey. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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