Nato calls for more global partners
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato secretary-general, yesterday called for the allies to engage more international partners, including China, Russia, India and the republics of central Asia, in their efforts to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan and stabilise the country.
His call came as a senior Nato official told the Financial Times the alliance was considering transporting vehicles by rail across the former Soviet Union to supply troops in Afghanistan.
The alliance relies heavily on routes through Pakistan. These convoys have come under regular attack with the loss of fuel tankers and large numbers of military vehicles.
Diego Ruiz-Palmer, head of planning at Nato's operations division in Brussels, speaking at an India-Nato meeting in New Delhi, said a rail route through Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and central Asian republics was under discussion for transporting a greater share of supplies. The route would be particularly suited for transporting vehicles.
Speaking at an annual security conference in Munich, Mr Rasmussen called for "an entirely new compact between all the actors on the security stage.
"We need Pakistan and all the other neighbours of Afghanistan to be engaged in a more constructive way," he said.
Addressing an audience of defence and foreign ministers, and top security officials and analysts, from Russia and China as well as the US and all the other Nato members, he stopped short of asking for military support, but suggested other countries could do more to help train Afghan troops, provide equipment and spare parts, and curb drug-trafficking.
"What could be the harm for countries such as China, India, Pakistan and others to develop closer ties with Nato? If Afghanistan becomes a safe haven for terrorists they could easily spread through central Asia to Russia. Of course Afghanistan is not an island. There is no solution just within its borders."
He talked of the neighbouring states doing more to forge a "political and military partnership" with Kabul.
Last year, the US reached agreement with Russia to ship "non-lethal" supplies through a northern corridor from Russia to Afghanistan via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Russia could help further by supplying helicopters, training for pilots and spare parts to the Afghan armed forces, said Mr Rasmussen. Although Russia might be cautious about sending any military personnel to Afghanistan after losing its own war in the country in the 1980s, such training could be done outside the country, he said.
Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian state Duma, said that although there had been a change in relations between Russia and the Nato allies: "We are concerned that Russia is still being informed [about this concept], not involved."
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