Nato set to agree to wind down Afghan war

NATO LEADERS are poised to agree a four-year deadline to wind down most of their combat operations in the Afghan war, an unpopular…

NATO LEADERS are poised to agree a four-year deadline to wind down most of their combat operations in the Afghan war, an unpopular campaign branded a “trap” by newly appointed French defence minister Alain Juppé.

Security was stepped up on the streets in Lisbon yesterday as the 28 Nato leaders prepare to descend on the city tonight for the annual summit of the military alliance. The meeting will be followed by an EU-US summit tomorrow, convened in place of a May gathering, which was unilaterally cancelled by US president Barack Obama.

Afghanistan is set to dominate proceedings at the meeting, but the alliance is also expected to step up military co-operation with Russia, adopt a new mission statement and seek agreement on a new missile defence system.

With violence at its highest level for years and record military casualties eroding public support for the war in the US and its allied partners, the meeting takes place as the alliance seeks a way out of the conflict.

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In office only for days since French president Nicolas Sarkozy reshuffled his cabinet, Mr Juppé’s remarks on national radio reflect frustration with the conflict and the clamour to wind down military operations. “Afghanistan is, I would say, a trap for all the parties involved there,” he said.

Mr Sarkozy is seen to be pushing for a full withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan before his re-election bid in 2012, while Canada confirmed this week that its military will end its combat mission there at the end of next year.

The US claims the troop “surge” backed by Mr Obama has given the allies the upper hand in the conflict with the Taliban for the first time in years.

However, the recent emergence of discreet talks with some Taliban elements comes amid efforts by Afghan president Hamid Karzai to broker a political accommodation with the rebels.

The strategy is to strengthen the capabilities of the Afghan army and weaken the Taliban to the point that a political settlement will be more acceptable.

It also aims to encourage reconciliation with militants and their reintegration into mainstream society.

Allied military commanders say the handover of security powers to local Afghan troops is set to begin in the first half of next year with the objective of meeting Mr Karzai’s target of a full withdrawal by 2014. This is crucial for the president, who has pledged to start a phased pull-out next year.

Doubts remain as to whether local forces will be ready for full security responsibility by 2014.

Nato’s chief civil servant in Afghanistan, Mark Sedwell, reflected such concerns when he said the transition might continue until “2015 and beyond” in some areas.

The alliance plans to adopt a new “strategic concept” – akin to a mission statement – in which it will take stock in its mandate of new threats like “cyber-crime”.

It will also implement cost-cutting measures and slim down its organisational structure.

New arrangements with Nato’s old enemy Russia are in also store when leaders of the alliance meet President Dmitry Medvedev tomorrow. As Nato and Russia seek to paper over the rift opened during Russia’s 2008 conflict with Georgia, Mr Medvedev is expected to open fresh supply links with Afghanistan and provide Russian helicopters to Afghan forces.

Russia may be invited to join a new system of missile defence against threats from countries including Iran, whose nuclear programme has angered the West.

The project involves new links between existing national systems and US radars and interceptors.