NATO goes global

By Shada Islam

The Nato summit in the Rhineland border cities of Strasbourg and Kehl - venues straddling the frontier of foes-turned-allies France and Germany - is full of symbolism for an alliance established 60 years ago to counter security threats posed by the Soviet Union and its satellites in communist eastern Europe.




However, Nato now finds itself embroiled in its first and only ground war in far-off Afghanistan while seeking closer institutional ties with neighbouring Pakistan and partnerships with "like-minded" nations in the Asian Pacific region.




The "new" Nato is also seeking to forge a less confrontational relationship with Russia, has just opened its doors to new members Croatia and Albania and is in the process of revising its "strategic concept" to reflect new global security realities.




If this isn't going global, what is?




Afghanistan has emerged as the key challenge to Nato and transatlantic relations, especially after the recent unveiling of US President Barack Obama's revised strategy for the country. President Obama has appealed directly to alliance heads of government for more help in the deadlocked Nato campaign to defeat the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.




Nato has led international security forces in Afghanistan since 2003. But while the previous US administration viewed the alliance mission in Afghanistan as an essential element of its "war on terror", European governments have tended to see the operation as a largely humanitarian one.




European policymakers say they share most of the strategic objectives set out by the Obama administration in its new blueprint on Afghanistan and Pakistan. But at the same time, European governments have made it clear that they are in no mood to send significant additional combat forces to Afghanistan. Seeking to paper over the cracks in transatlantic relations, the US is now demanding that Europe should match America's decision to deploy more troops in Afghanistan with an equally significant "civilian surge" in the country.




In response, European governments pledged more funds to the Afghan reconstruction effort at the so-called "big tent" meeting on Afghanistan held in The Hague on March 31. However, Europe's police training mission in Kabul remains understaffed despite repeated promises by governments to send more police personnel to Afghanistan.




In fact, discussions on Afghanistan signal a new emerging division of labour in Nato, where the US assumes the military role while Europeans focus on non-military activities and training.Also on the agenda at the summit are Nato's relations with Russia, France's decision to return to Nato's military wing after a 43-year absence and prospects for pushing Nato's borders farther eastward by bringing the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance. While Germany is not prepared to send more troops to Afghanistan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is firmly backing the new US drive to strengthen cooperation with Russia.




"Nato wants Russia as a good partner," Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament last week, adding: "For 20 years, we've not been adversaries. The Cold War times are irrevocably over."




Moscow and western partners have been at odds over a series of diplomatic and security issues in the past months, including Russia's military action in Georgia last year and Moscow's gas dispute with Ukraine which cut supplies to Europe in January.




Alliance ties were in fact severed after Russia invaded Georgia last August but Nato foreign ministers decided in early March to restore relations with Moscow. The relationship is a fraught one, however, with Russia opposing US-backed efforts to move Ukraine and Georgia towards Nato membership.




A Nato summit last year promised Ukraine and Georgia they would become alliance members some day, but the two ex-Soviet states did not win their bid for fast-track membership plans after opposition from Germany and other European allies. If anything, their membership hopes have dwindled since. At the time of writing, it is expected that the summit will name a successor to Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.




The next Nato chief will face an uphill struggle to continue the anti-Taliban campaign in Afghanistan while building stronger relations with Pakistan and other Asian nations. But his biggest challenge will be to maintain a good transatlantic relationship and ensure that the alliance stays united not only in Afghanistan but in dealings with Russia and other key neighbouring states including Ukraine and Georgia.




The writer is Dawn's correspondent in Brussels.