Rasmussen urges greater financial aid to Afghanistan

Koya Ozeki / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

BRUSSELS--North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen emphasized Wednesday there was a "desperate need" for more personnel to train and educate Afghan soldiers and police officers, urging Japan to increase financial contributions for the country's reconstruction.

In an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun, Rasmussen suggested that NATO would not ask Japan to send Self-Defense Forces personnel to Afghanistan, saying, "I fully respect that it is the Japanese position not to send its military to Afghanistan."

Rasmussen pointed out that more financial resources were needed to pay reasonable salaries to and improve the equipment of Afghan military and police personnel. "In that area, I think Japan could play a very valuable role," he said.

Concerning the Afghan government, Rasmussen said he would seek a "new contract" between the international community and the government in Kabul, in which the government would fight against corruption and provide good governance in exchange for a continued international commitment to the country.

Furthermore, Rasmussen said he has been thinking of holding a ministerial-level international conference of concerned countries this year or early next year to help prepare the contract, aiming to make the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai promise to improve governance in the country.

The U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force, which is the international security and development mission in Afghanistan, falls under NATO command.

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'Failure is not an option'

Meanwhile, Rasmussen said, "Failure is not an option" for NATO's military operations in Afghanistan, suggesting the alliance would not withdraw from the country until security is ensured.

The comments apparently grew out of a concern that if NATO fails to complete its Afghan mission, its whole reason for existence could be called into question.

"We have to realize that in today's world, the defense of our territories very often starts far from our borders, like in Afghanistan," Rasmussen said. "A prime example is that the terrorists who attacked America were rooted in Afghanistan. It shows that you have to start the defense of your own territory as far [away] as Afghanistan."

NATO originally was established to protect European countries from aggression from the former Soviet Union.

While NATO was seen as completing its mission with the end of the Cold War, it was given renewed purpose by the ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the military operations in Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

"The fall of the [Berlin] wall is NATO's success story. Having said that, I also have to stress that once the old threat disappeared, new threats arose," Rasmussen said. "The most obvious example is the new threat from international terrorism...My point is that the security threats have changed, but they are still there...the new threats--terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

However, with the death toll in Afghanistan for NATO troops increasing and public opinion in Europe turning against the dispatch of troops to the country, NATO has lost some of its credibility.

"There's no contradiction between a strong territorial defense and expeditionary missions," Rasmussen said.

Despite his position, however, many former communist states have voiced concern that the dispatch of NATO troops to other territories might weaken its defense against Russia.

NATO will renew the strategic concept defining its roles at the end of 2010 for the first time in 11 years, and its future military operations in Afghanistan will be of great influence in the matter. "We will and must prevail...it's also a testament to the strength of NATO," Rasmussen said.