http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/afghanistan-nato-intensifies-its-first-asian-war
Stop NATO
January 13, 2010
Afghanistan: NATO Intensifies Its First Asian War
Rick Rozoff
-----------
With former Joint Special Operations Command chief General Stanley McChrystal
in charge of what will soon be over 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan war theater, Washington will conduct its largest
counterinsurgency operations since those in Indochina in the 1960s and early
1970s.
NATO, established in 1949 supposedly to confront the Soviet Union and its
allies in Central Europe, is waging its first land war almost 3,000 miles east
of its former border with the Warsaw Pact.
The world's sole military superpower...is extending its troop deployments,
bases, missile shield components, warplanes and warships to all six inhabited
continents, over the past decade to Afghanistan, Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia,
Djibouti, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, the Philippines,
Poland, Romania and Seychelles.
-----------
On January 8 the Washington Post provided North Atlantic Treaty Organization
secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt
a column in which the two, while deferring to their big brother in Washington -
"The United States has played a central role in defending the values and the
security of the Euro-Atlantic community" - nevertheless asserted that "Europe
can deliver and can be a real partner for the United States. That is what is
happening now in the global mission in Afghanistan." [1]
Unquestioned loyalty to the trans-Atlantic partnership with the United States
is synonymous with subordination to NATO, and currently the touchstone for
fealty to the military bloc is blind willingness to follow the U.S. further and
yet deeper into the increasingly bloody imbroglio in Afghanistan.
In addressing the ongoing and by all appearances interminable colonial war in
South Asia, one which cost the U.S. and its NATO allies more lives last year
than in any of the seven full years preceding it, the joint propaganda puff
piece by Bildt and Rasmussen included the boast that "U.S. allies and partners
in the NATO-led military operation have responded clearly to President Obama's
decision to significantly increase American troop levels in the mission. In
early December, the other members of the mission pledged an additional 7,000
troops, on top of the almost 40,000 non-U.S. troops already on the ground.
Non-U.S. forces will eventually be about 40 percent of the total; they already
endure about 40 percent of the casualties. There should be no more doubt in the
United States on whether America can count on its allies; we are proving that
in blood and treasure every day in Afghanistan." [2]
Their arithmetic matches that of U.S. permanent representative to NATO,
Netherlands-born Ivo Daalder, who four months ago quantified what it means to
be a dependable member of the bloc: "Over 40 percent of the bodybags that leave
Afghanistan do not go to the U.S. They go to other countries...." [3] Daalder
has long been an advocate of NATO not so much supplementing as replacing the
United Nations as arbiter of international conflicts and indeed of all
important world issues. [4]
It is uncertain whether leading Western governments have formally determined
what the optimal distribution and division of blood and currency, deaths and
dollars/euros between the United States and its NATO partners should be in
order to preserve solidarity between members of the "military alliance of
democratic states in Europe and North America." Perhaps someone in Brussels and
Washington computes that lethal calculus.
Bildt, whose country is not yet a full member of NATO notwithstanding the
efforts of himself and co-conspirators to surreptitiously pull Sweden into full
integration with the world's only military bloc [5], presumably spoke on behalf
of the European Union - though his nation does not currently hold the EU
presidency. Spain does.
However, Swedish troops serve under NATO command in Afghanistan and in recent
months have been involved in several firefights in the north of the nation,
where with fellow former (officially) neutral Finland it is in charge of four
provinces for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. Bildt's
nation has lost two soldiers in the Alliance's Asian war, the first it has
sacrificed in an armed conflict since the Norwegian-Swedish War of 1814.
On February 4 and 5 the defense chiefs of all 28 full NATO member states and no
doubt counterparts from many of the more than twenty partner nations - from
Australia to the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia to Colombia, Bosnia to
Singapore, Georgia to South Korea - that have provided or pledged troops to the
bloc for its first Asian war will meet in Istanbul, Turkey to plan the next
phase of the escalation of the the Afghan campaign. "The situation in
Afghanistan and sending military reinforcements to join the International
Security Assistance Force are expected to be the key matters of the meetings."
[6]
5,000 NATO Casualties Predicted For New Year
What reinforcements from NATO member and partner states will encounter was
indicated by retired U.S. general Barry McCaffrey, who earlier this month
projected that "US forces in Afghanistan should brace themselves for up to 500
casualties a month this year." The Times of London added "The anticipated
increase would produce around 3,000 American casualties this year, and a total
for Western forces in Afghanistan of around 5,000 killed and wounded - the
equivalent of seven infantry battalions." [7]
By way of comparison, in 2009 there were 512 U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom
and NATO International Security Assistance Force deaths in Afghanistan, more
than a third of the 1,500 Western fatalities since the war began in October of
2001. McCaffrey's numbers allow for some multiple of last year's combined U.S.
and other NATO member and partner combat deaths to occur later this year.
Such is the test - and the price - of the "Euro-Atlantic" partnership touted by
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Recent developments substantiate predictions of heightened NATO casualties this
year, even before planned spring and summer offensives commence.
The New Year has begun with NATO announcing the deaths of over a dozen
soldiers, including six in attacks on January 11. The pace of combat deaths
this year already promises a total exceeding the previous high in 2009.
The main victims of the expansion of the war in South Asia by the U.S. and NATO
will remain Afghan civilians and their opposite numbers in Pakistan [8], but
Western military occupation forces will not fare much better.
As deployments increase so will casualties, and both are growing steadily.
NATO Recruits Middle East Partners For Afghan War
On December 30 the Jordanian Army announced that one of its officers became the
nation's first fatality in Afghanistan. Before that the United Arab Emirates
was thought to be the only Arab country to supply troops to NATO for that war
theater, but on the day of the loss a German news agency revealed that "NATO's
website listed 90 Jordanian soldiers alongside other contributions to the
multinational force." [9] It was later reported that the captain killed in
Afghanistan lost his life along with seven Americans in an attack on a CIA
forward operating base and was the alleged handler for what has been described
as a double agent, a physician from Jordan.
Nine days after its first military loss, Jordan in the person of its foreign
minister, Nasser Judeh, asserted "our presence in Afghanistan will be enhanced
and increased in the coming phase. This is something that is ongoing. Jordan
was one of the first countries there." [10] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary was
in the nation's capital on January 8 "to discuss strategic cooperation." [11]
Jordan is a member of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue partnership along with
Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. The United Arab
Emirates is a carefully cultivated NATO, American and French military ally in
the Persian Gulf and a mainstay of the Alliance's Istanbul Cooperation
Initiative. [12]
NATO chief Rasmussen recently gave an interview to a Danish newspaper in which
he "urged Muslim nations to contribute troops for service in Afghanistan." The
likely recruits are the six Arab members of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the
six Gulf Cooperation Council states targeted by the Istanbul Cooperation
Initiative. (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates.)
Afghan War Used To Train Caucasus Armies For Local Wars
The bloc has also secured troop commitments from all three former Soviet
republics in the South Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Azerbaijan,
bordering both Iran and Russia, has doubled its contingent under pressure from
NATO's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons
[13] and recently the vice speaker of its parliament said "At the recent
meeting of NATO foreign ministers a proposal was made to increase the number of
servicemen in Afghanistan. If we receive an appeal, the issue on increasing the
number of Azerbaijani servicemen in Afghanistan may be considered.” [14]
Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, routinely threaten war
with neighboring Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Georgia hosted U.S. Marines late last year to train the first new installment
of troops from that nation to be deployed to Afghanistan. [15] Georgian troop
strength is projected to reach 1,000 within months, thereby rendering the state
the largest per capita contributor to NATO's war in Afghanistan. "By March, the
Georgian contingent will become about 1,000 strong, according to the Defense
Ministry." [16]
The nation's mercurial and bellicose head of state, U.S.-educated Mikheil
Saakashvili, said of the Afghan deployment: "This is a unique chance for our
soldiers to receive a real combat baptism. We do not need the army only for
showing off at military parades." [17] Saakashvili meant that crack Georgian
military forces trained by the U.S. Marine Corps and serving under NATO in
Afghanistan will be better prepared for the next war with Russia over South
Ossetia and Abkhazia when they return home.
On January 10 the first Afghanistan-bound Armenian troops "depart[ed] for
Germany for training before joining the ISAF mission in Afghanistan" and "will
be in Afghanistan in mid-February." [18]
Unlike its neighbors Azerbaijan and Georgia, Armenia is a member of the
Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), seen by many
observers as a bulwark against further NATO expansion into former Soviet space.
Although Armenia sent a small contingent of troops to Iraq earlier, they were
deployed under a bilateral arrangement with the U.S. and did not serve under
NATO command as they will in Afghanistan. Armenian troops will be the first
from the CSTO to do so.
Another former Soviet republic, Estonia, a full member of NATO since 2004,
announced this month that in keeping with other Alliance members and partners
from five continents it was prepared to increase its Afghan war contingent.
"150 soldiers from the Baltic country are involved in the conflict and it's
likely that more troops are going to be sent." [19]
NATO's War Trajectory: From Southeastern Europe To South Asia
The North Atlantic military bloc, the only one in the world since the formal
dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, effected its transition from an alleged
defensive organization to an active out of area perpetrator of armed aggression
with the 78-day Operation Allied Force air war against Yugoslavia in 1999.
Fifteen months after that conflict ended NATO invoked its Article 5 mutual
military assistance provision to join the U.S. in Afghanistan and in the
general global war on terror announced by the American administration.
Currently all six former Yugoslav federal republics except for Serbia, which is
also marked for further NATO integration and will in turn be pressured for
troops, have committed forces to serve under NATO in the Afghan war zone.
Late last month Defense Minister Selmo Cikotic confirmed that "Bosnia is
planning to send troops next year to join the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan."
[20]
A Croatian soldier was injured in Afghanistan on December 30 in an attack of an
undisclosed nature.
Macedonia is a perennial candidate for full NATO membership that has attempted
to prove its bona fides to the Alliance by sending troops to, first, Iraq and
now Afghanistan. It will not be accepted until it changes its name under
foreign pressure and effectively cedes its northwest region to Kosovo, an
artificial political entity violently forged by NATO.
On January 8 the country dispatched 150 troops for a new rotation. The forces
will join a British military unit. Earlier the Macedonian Defense Ministry
announced that it was increasing troop strength to over 243, a fifty percent
boost.
In neighboring Bulgaria a news source recently divulged that the nation was
adding deployments to Afghanistan which will bring the country's troops there
to over 300.
Poland: NATO Uses Afghan War To Train Army For Combat, Warfare
Late in December Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski made a tour of
inspection to the NATO Joint Force Training Center in Bydgoszcz and said, "I
think that slowly but consistently we are implementing our strategy in
Afghanistan. We have completed our missions in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Chad
and strengthened the one in Afghanistan. I think that, as a result, the Polish
Army is getting an experience there and entering NATO's first league...." [21]
Poland has pledged an additional 600 troops for the war this year and the total
number will reach 2,600, the largest overseas military deployment in the
nation's history, 100 more than it had deployed in Iraq where it lost 22
soldiers.
For Poland, as with fellows neighbors of Russia like Estonia, Finland, Georgia,
Latvia and Lithuania [22], NATO is supplying military training and combat
experience for future action nearer home. Toward the end of last year a Polish
officer, speaking of his country's National Forces Reserve, said that "in the
event of war, the reserve units could be mobilised" and that they will "train
on a regular basis to keep up their combat skills in the event of warfare."
[23] The application of such training is not for Afghanistan.
The major, older NATO nations are also stepping up their roles in the Afghan
conflict.
Even before the January 28 conference on Afghanistan to be held in London, at
and after which it is expected that NATO troop contributions will expand even
beyond the additional 7,000 pledged since U.S. President Obama's troops surge
announcement last December 1, the host nation Britain has assigned several
hundred more troops. The country's death toll reached 246 early this year.
France: Back In NATO Military Command, In Afghanistan For The Duration
On January 8 French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has already sent 2,600
soldiers to Afghanistan, "defended his country's military force in Afghanistan,
saying...that now is not the time to pull out."
He also "insisted on the importance of France's participation in NATO. France
rejoined NATO's integrated military command in 2009, more than 40 years after
quitting it and kicking American military bases off French soil." [24]
On January 4 Der Spiegel reported that the U.S. "has decided to send 2,500
soldiers to Kunduz," where German forces called in a NATO air strike in early
September of last year that killed 150 civilians [25], "the region under German
command in the northern part of the country. The move is sure to increase the
pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin." Pressure, that is, to dispense
with the limit of 4,500 troops imposed by the parliament, the Bundestag, and
"intensify the debate in Germany about sending more troops. Internally, the
government in Berlin has already decided to increase German troop numbers by up
to 2,000 soldiers...." [26] American troops would serve under German command
for the first time in Afghanistan or anywhere else.
German Troops "Trained To Kill"
The following day the new Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang
Ischinger, in recent years German ambassador to the United States and to
Britain, was quoted as saying that "Germany must confront the reality that its
soldiers are trained to kill" and that "certain military facts had to be
confronted."
Ischinger stated in his own words: "Soldiers are trained to kill others, or at
least to threaten people in a way that they consider it plausible that they
will be killed if they don't do what is expected of them."
He urged a troop increase in Afghanistan and added, "If we send too many, it
can't get so bad. If we send too few, it could be that the whole thing doesn't
work...We are building fewer wells, and unfortunately have to shoot more." [27]
The war in Afghanistan, like that against Yugoslavia in 1999, is providing
Germany the opportunity of reemerging on the world military stage. [28]
Scandinavia, Spain: Killing And Dying In South Asia
The Norwegian press this year has reported on the heightened combat role of its
nation's troops. On New Year's Eve a "Norwegian patrol came under fire from
several directions. The fighting lasted for seven hours." [29] The country's
Defense Ministry claimed that several Afghan insurgents were killed. Norwegian
troops are also not constructing wells; neither are their Finnish and Swedish
counterparts who have been in regular firefights in northern Afghanistan.
"The Christmas period has seen troops from Norway involved in several battles
across northern Afghanistan," one of which "led to NATO being called on to
provide assistance from the air."
"On Christmas Day a mission with drone and helicopter support was deployed to
an under siege Afghan border post by Norwegian and Afghan troops." [30]
At the beginning of January "it was announced that Norwegian forces, which
number around 500 in Afghanistan, were involved in fighting every third day on
average." [31]
On January 8 a Danish soldier was killed and five were injured in Helmand
province. Denmark, which has 700 troops assigned to NATO, has lost 29 military
personnel in the Afghan war.
On January 8 the Spanish contingent in Afghanistan - "Spain currently has about
800 troops serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in
Afghanistan, and plans to deploy an additional 220 soldiers to that nation"
[32] - lost a soldier, an Ecuadorian national, to a non-combat injury, bringing
Spain's toll to 90 Afghan war-related deaths. Another 150 soldiers have been
seriously injured.
The Spanish government refuses to name a withdrawal date and "[J]udging by the
amazing Spanish base being built close to the airport of the capital of the
Province of Badghis, the withdrawal will not come soon.
"This base will have a capacity to accommodate around 300,000 soldiers and its
cost will exceed 44 million euros. The base will have an extension of around
173 acres and a perimeter of 3 miles." [33]
Spanish troops killed one Afghan civilian and wounded another in late December
in Herat province.
During the same period "The Dutch television channel RTL news...obtained
evidence that, it claims, shows that Dutch troops in Afghanistan have been
responsible for more than 100 civilian deaths." [34]
On December 30 four more Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, bringing
Canada's death tally to 138, the third largest of any NATO state and the
largest per capita.
Two Italian troops were among those wounded on December 28 when an Afghan
National Army soldier fired on NATO troops. Italy has lost 22 soldiers in the
war and will add 1,000 more troops this year to the 3,200 already in
Afghanistan.
....
With former Joint Special Operations Command chief General Stanley McChrystal
in charge of what will soon be over 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan war theater, Washington will conduct its largest
counterinsurgency operations since those in Indochina in the 1960s and early
1970s.
The New York Times reported in late December that "Secretive branches of the
military´s Special Operations forces have increased counterterrorism
missions...in Afghanistan and, because of their success, plan an even bigger
expansion next year, according to American commanders."
"Senior military officials say it is not surprising that the commandos are
playing such an important role in the fight, particularly because Gen. Stanley
A. McChrystal, the senior American and NATO officer in Afghanistan, led the
Joint Special Operations Command for five years.
"In addition to the classified American commando missions, military officials
say that other NATO special operations forces have teamed up...." [35]
NATO, established in 1949 supposedly to confront the Soviet Union and its
allies in Central Europe, is waging its first land war almost 3,000 miles east
of its former border with the Warsaw Pact.
Associated Press reported on January 12 that the Obama White House is to
request a record $708 billion for the Pentagon for next year and the first of
what will become regular emergency requests for the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq, overwhelmingly for the first: $33 billion.
The integration of U.S. armed forces and those of the other fifty nations
providing troops for NATO in Afghanistan, a global NATO in embryo [36], is not
limited to the war in Afghanistan.
Last week it was reported that the chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command,
Marine Corps General James Mattis, who was also NATO's Supreme Allied Commander
Transformation [ACT] until last September, "pitched to Defense Secretary Robert
Gates a proposal to rename the Norfolk, Va.-based organization, aiming to
reflect how much it works with non-American entities and officials.
"34 senior officers from both NATO and 'Partnership for Peace member nations,
as well as Asia Pacific, African and Middle Eastern nations,' are hosted by the
command. Nearly 90 officials from 48 nations 'routinely collaborate' with the
joint organization," according to Mattis. [37]
His memo to Pentagon chief Gates contained this core recommendation:
"In alignment with our mission and consistent with the continued importance of
partnership with multinational partners, request your approval to immediately
pursue the renaming of U.S. Joint Forces Command to U.S. Joint and Coalition
Forces Command. This [proposed] name will better reflect the day-to-day reality
of this non-geographically-oriented command and signify a command focused on
more than internal U.S. priorities." [38]
The world's sole military superpower, as President Barack Obama referred to the
nation whose commander-in-chief he is on the occasion of receiving the now even
further tarnished Nobel Peace Prize, is extending its troop deployments, bases,
missile shield components, warplanes and warships to all six inhabited
continents, over the past decade to Afghanistan, Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia,
Djibouti, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, the Philippines,
Poland, Romania and Seychelles.
The U.S. has the mightiest and most lethal military arsenal in human history at
its disposal and the world's second-largest standing army (only China's having
more troops). It intends to spend over $700 billion next year on its defense
budget and will continue to add on special appropriations for the wars in
Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
It also is in charge of the world's first global military bloc, NATO, which is
participating with the U.S. in an expanding war in Asia with forces from over a
quarter of the world's nations under its command.
1) Washington Post, January 8, 2010
2) Ibid
3) Reuters, September 14, 2009
4) West Plots To Supplant United Nations With Global NATO
Stop NATO, May 27, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/154
5) Stop The Stealthy Accession To NATO!
http://www.stoppanato.se
English: http://www.stoppanato.se/english/guides.htm
6) Aysor, January 11, 2010
7) The Times, January 7, 2010
8) West’s Afghan War: From Conquest To Bloodbath
Stop NATO, January 5, 2010
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/wests-afghan-war-from-conquest-to-bloodbath
9) Deutsche Presse-Agentur, December 30, 2009
10) Agence France-Presse, January 8, 2010
11) Trend News Agency, January 10, 2010
12) NATO In Persian Gulf: From Third World War To Istanbul
Stop NATO, February 6, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/nato-in-persian-gulf-from-third-world-war-to-istanbul
13) Mr. Simmons’ Mission: NATO Bases From Balkans To Chinese Border
Stop NATO, March 4, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/mr-simmons-mission-nato-bases-from-balkans-to-chinese-border
Eurasian Crossroads: The Caucasus In U.S.-NATO War Plans
Stop NATO, April 7, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/118
Azerbaijan And The Caspian: NATO’s War For The World’s Heartland
Stop NATO, June 10, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/azerbaijan-and-the-caspian-natos-war-for-the-worlds-heartland
14) Azeri Press Agency, December 24, 2009
15) U.S. Marines In The Caucasus As West Widens Afghan War
Stop NATO, September 3, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/u-s-marines-in-the-caucasus-as-west-widens-afghan-war
16) Interfax, January 13, 2010
17) The Telegraph, December 8, 2009
18) PanArmenian.net, January 9, 2010
19) Estonian Free Press, January 8, 2010
20) Reuters, December 28, 2009
21) Polish Radio, December 31, 2009
22) Afghan War: NATO Trains Finland, Sweden For Conflict With Russia
Stop NATO, July 26, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/afghan-war-nato-trains-finland-sweden-for-conflict-with-russia
23) Polish Radio, December 28, 2009
24) Associated Press, January 8, 2010
25) Following Afghan Election, NATO Intensifies Deployments, Carnage
Stop NATO, September 6, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/following-afghan-election-nato-intensifies-deployments-carnage
26) Der Spiegel, January 4, 2010
27) Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 5, 2010
28) New NATO: Germany Returns To World Military Stage
Stop NATO, July 12, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/new-nato-germany-returns-to-world-military-stage
29) Norway Post, January 3, 2010
30) IceNews, January 3, 2010
31) Ibid
32) EFE, January 8, 2010
33) Prensa Latina, December 28, 2009
34) Radio Netherlands, December 24, 2009
35) New York Times, December 27, 2009
36) Afghan War: NATO Builds History’s First Global Army
Stop NATO, August 9, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/afghan-war-nato-builds-historys-first-global-army
37) Defense News, January 6, 2009
38) Ibid
===========================
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