Norway fends off calls for more soldiers in Afghanistan
Posted by africanpress on December 9, 2007
Norway still doesn’t want to send any of its soldiers into the dangerous areas of southern Afghanistan, and resisted pressure from NATO on Friday to do so.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (right) speaking with his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice in Brussels on Friday. PHOTO: THIERRY ROGE/REUTERS |
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has joined other foreign ministers from NATO countries for a meeting in Brussels. Fellow NATO members Denmark, the Netherlands and Canada all used the meeting to ask for more support for their own troops in southern Afghanistan.
Støre wouldn’t promise any. Norway has troops in Kabul and in the northern areas of Afghanistan, and thinks that’s sufficient.
Friday’s meeting focused on NATO’s operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo. In Afghanistan, the countries with troops in the south have suffered the most casualties and therefore want some relief.
A NATO spokesman, however, noted that the meeting wasn’t aimed at troop deployment, but rather at the larger political issues. That included better coordination of the Afghans’ own contribution to the anti-Taliban effort.
“That doesn’t only mean that more Afghans shall have more responsibility for their own security, but that there also will be more Afghans who can speak of progress in their country,” said Støre.
Lifted and published by Korir, API/APN africanpress@getmail.no source.aftenposteneng
