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ISTANBUL, June 28: Washington pressed on Monday for NATO to deploy a new elite force to troubled Afghanistan for September's election, offering a possible solution to the alliance's struggle to expand its peacekeeping operation.
NATO leaders meeting in Istanbul vowed to beef up their Kabul-based mission and expand its stabilising influence into unruly northern hinterlands, taking command of four security and reconstruction teams made up of soldiers and civilians.
"NATO has underlined how important Afghanistan is," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a news conference after the first session of the two-day meeting. "There was broad consensus that Afghanistan is a touchstone for NATO's abilities."
NATO has been criticised by non-governmental organisations for not expanding its 6,500-troop mission more aggressively. Human Rights Watch charged ahead of the summit that alliance "foot-dragging" had exacerbated violence and stalled reconstruction, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the polls could be postponed if security does not improve.
An alliance official initially told a news conference in Istanbul that NATO's force would rise temporarily to some 10,000 during the elections, but later clarified that this would include up to 2,000 troops on standby outside the country.
Nevertheless, NATO painted a rosy picture of its drive to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has been dogged by members' reluctance to offer costly resources such as transport planes, helicopters and medical facilities.
STRIKE FORCE: Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference the alliance "will deliver" on its commitment. He said he would deliver that message to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who left for Istanbul on Monday after a new round of bloody militant attacks in his Central Asian country.
A senior US defence official told reporters the 26-nation alliance had made no formal decision on whether to dispatch elements of its NATO Response Force (NRF) to Afghanistan, but it had been discussed by defence ministers in Istanbul.
"It's an option," he said. "Troops ... used to help establish security and protect voters could be members of the force." The idea of creating a cutting-edge force of warships, fighter planes and some 20,000 troops was born after the Sept 11 attacks in US cities in 2001.
Lethal, agile and ready to be deployed to hotspots within five days, it would give NATO the power to strike back quickly and forcefully when an ally is attacked by a distant foe.
Although it has already been set up, the force is not due to be "fully operational" until Oct 2006. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, arguing for the NRF's deployment to Afghanistan, said its missions could run from war to humanitarian support.
He told reporters the new force should be used or it could "atrophy" as allies became frustrated devoting personnel and arms to a unit that never left home bases. NATO's Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in the north will consist of roughly 100 troops each and they will be backed by some 200 to 300 at a forward support base in Mazar-i-Sharif.
During the elections ISAF will deploy roughly 100 troops at each of its PRTs and a quick-reaction force battalion of up to 1,000 personnel in Kabul to respond to emerging crises. That would take the likely in-theatre forces around the time of the elections to a maximum of around 8,700. -Reuters
