NATO SUMMIT/AFGHANISTAN: Twenty four hours after NATO leaders gathered in Istanbul agreed in principle to bolster Alliance troops in Afghanistan from 6,500 to 10,000 in time for elections this September, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai begged them to ensure their promises would not just remain on paper, writes Nicholas Birch in Istanbul
"I warmly welcome your decision on Monday to send reinforcements," he told delegates of the Euro-transatlantic Partnership, an assembly grouping 46 states and NATO members. "But we need security now, not tomorrow. Please respect the promises you have made."
Largely lawless outside Kabul, Afghanistan has recently seen an increase in violence. Over the weekend, 18 villagers in the south were murdered by the Taliban as they prepared to write their names on electoral lists.
So far, it seems as though Mr Karzai's pleas may have been heard. Exact numbers are not yet clear, but alongside Spain, which made a commitment to send troops before the NATO summit began on Monday, Italy looks set to send a large contingent. The Turkish press reported yesterday that Turkey would also increase its involvement.
Diplomats say that units set aside for so-called provincial reconstruction teams, or PRTs, civilian-military battalions based in the Afghan countryside, look set to leave within weeks. But it is far from clear how many of the troops destined to ensure the smooth running of elections will actually go to Afghanistan. They are just as likely to remain on red alert in Europe.
What stirred undoubted controversy was the US and British proposal that normal NATO troops should be bolstered by members of the NATO Response Force (NRF). Born from discussions at the NATO summit in Prague late in 2002, the NRF is an elite, highly mobile international force, intended as a quick response to emergency situations. Most of its troops, still less than the 25,000 agreed on in 2002, are French and Italian.
The plan was criticised by French President Jacques Chirac, who argued that election-monitoring would run counter to the NRF's original purpose.
France's contrariness stems from its long-running suspicions of NATO, which it tends to see as a surrogate of the US, and its desire to counterbalance American hegemony with a more powerful Europe.
It was a point strongly put by Mr Chirac at a press conference on Monday. NATO's Afghan role, he said, "shows in an exemplary way, that a Europe with a strong defence is not only compatible with, but also necessary for a strong NATO".
Mr Chirac has made something of a habit at this Istanbul summit of cocking a snook at his bête noire, President Bush.
On Monday, he strongly criticised Mr Bush's insistence that Turkey should be given a date for accession to the EU this December.
"It's as if I was advising the US on how they should manage their relations with Mexico," he said.