http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N17343340
NATO chief bemoans limits on troops in Afghanistan Fri 17 Nov 2006 10:39 AM ET QUEBEC CITY, Quebec Nov 17 (Reuters) - The head of the NATO military alliance on Friday urged member nations to drop the restrictions they have placed on their troops in Afghanistan, saying this was hampering the ability to fight Taliban militants. NATO currently has around 31,000 troops in Afghanistan but some member nations have placed so-called caveats on what their soldiers can do. Some are not allowed to operate at night and others have been banned from fighting altogether. The caveats have upset the United States, Britain and Canada, who complain their troops are doing most of the fighting against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer asked a Quebec meeting of parliamentarians from the 26 member nations to persuade their governments to lift the restrictions. "An operational commander can have lots of trouble if too many caveats exist in the written or unwritten form. Too many caveats limit the possibilities a commander has to use his forces," he said by video link from NATO's Brussels headquarters. "My strong plea to governments and also my strong plea to you parliamentarians would be -- please help us in lifting those caveats as much as possible ... you have an important role to play here, because really in Afghanistan it is a problem." Canadian Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor told the meeting that all NATO members had to share the Afghan burden equally and said Ottawa expected the caveats to be removed. Canada has 2,500 troops in southern Afghanistan and has lost more than 40 soldiers since 2002, most of them in the last few months. De Hoop Scheffer did not address another major problem NATO is facing, that of persuading member nations to send more troops to Afghanistan. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
