BRUSSELS, March 22 (KUNA) -- NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, warned here Sunday that a failure in Afghanistan will seriously damage the credibility of the 26-member Alliance and called for taking neighbouring countries like Iran on board to resolve the problem in Afghanistan.
"Failure (in Afghanistan) is not an option because failure will heavily effect the credibility of NATO... If you want to get the region right, we need Russia, you need Iran as well, as a neighbour and major player in the region," he told a conference on the future of NATO.
Afghanistan is the number one operational priority, he said, noting that ISAF has 60,000 troops in the Muslim country.
Referring to the "Big Tent" meeting in The Hague, on March 31, Scheffer said "there will be a lot of talk of strategy with regard to Afghanistan, including a more regional approach, more forces in the South of the country.." "But we will have to ensure that we deliver on what we agree, which means coordinated action and more resources," he told the Brussels Forum. He said the upcoming NATO summit in Strasbourg (France) and Kehl (Germany) on 3-4 April can "be a big step in the right direction.' "The political constellation is favourable. There is a new US Administration that is determined to take a fresh approach. . The return of France to NATO's integrated military structure will strengthen the Alliance and help reduce the ambivalence in the NATO-EU relationship," he said.
The NATO Summit will endorse a short but powerful "Declaration on Alliance Security". Scheffer said the future of NATO will be determined by three key factors: First, the evolution of the global security environment , second factor is the sense of common purpose among the Allies and the third factor relates to NATO as an institution.
The 3-day Brussels Forum an annual high-level meeting of influential European and American political, corporate, and intellectual leaders , ends on Sunday. (end) nk.bz.
KUNA 221323 Mar 09NNNN