NATO: NATO agreed yesterday to a huge reduction of its military bases as part of a drive to revamp the Cold War alliance for new security threats worldwide.
Defence ministers moved to cut the number of command headquarters to 11 from 20 and replace their Cold War-era Atlantic military chief with a commander in charge of transformation.
"This is a new NATO . . . a NATO able to meet its commitments when times get tough," Secretary-General George Robertson said at the 19-nation alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
The command structure overhaul had at one stage appeared to be in jeopardy as Mediterranean rim countries haggled over the carve-up of bases.
But there was no hint of discord as the agreement went through, and certainly none of the acrimony that dealt a body blow to the alliance ahead of the US-led war in Iraq.
Visiting Germany ahead of the NATO meeting, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday again drew a line between "old" and "new" Europe, repeating the phrase that fuelled transatlantic rows in the run-up to the conflict.
But Germany played down any lingering tensions.
"The consequences of different positions on Iraq have disappeared," Defence Minister Mr Peter Struck told reporters. "It is not important how long and when I shake hands with Rumsfeld. What counts is the working atmosphere, and that works."
Under the new command structure, there will still be a Supreme Allied Commander for operations, based in Belgium.
Below that there will be three joint regional commands, down from five, and then six tactical-level commands - two each for air, land and sea operations - instead of 13.
The streamlining of the US-dominated alliance's cumbersome command structure, which during the height of the Cold War had peppered the NATO area with 78 command headquarters, was launched at the alliance's summit in Prague last November.
Along with a drive to improve military capabilities and build a rapid response force, it is part of a programme to make NATO relevant for new global challenges arising from failed states, terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Making good on pledges to reinvent itself for threats anywhere in the world, NATO recently agreed to take command of peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan in August and it will provide support to a Polish-led stabilisation force in Iraq.
"The alliance is in a much better position today than it was in February where we had some serious divisions," a senior US official said. "But, as is usual I think with NATO, warnings of its death are always premature."
The defence ministers said in a statement that the command overhaul should "yield cost and manpower savings" which could be channelled into filling big gaps in European military capacity.
- (Reuters)