The Secretary General said that the member states had the same opinion on Afghanistan but he thinks that the cooperation between the NATO and Afghanistan's neighbour-countries – including Pakistan – should also be improved. In the aim of building up and training the Afghan army, about 20 more training units must be sent to the country along with additional helicopters and NATO troops, which also means that members should boost spending, said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The member states also agreed that it was essential to fight more effectively and in tight cooperation against drugs trade in the country, for that is believed to help fund the Taliban insurgency. 'The possibility of starting up negotiations with the Taliban never came up on the meetings' - NATO spokesman James Apparthurai said. The Defense ministers haven't discussed NATO's new strategy on Afghanistan either, but the US Secretary of Defense noted that all areas of the Afghan mission – security, economics, rebuilding and civilian aid – should be synchronized. 'Washington is already working on a new strategy' said Robert Gates, adding that the US would be ready to make peace with the Taliban, if the Kabul government started negotiations with them. There can be no contacts made however with the international terrorist movement of Al-Qaeda. Gates said it was possible to negotiate with Taliban, but only without Al-Qaeda. The alliance decided to join anti-piracy operations along Somalia's coastline in order to help relief consignments reach their destinations.
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2008.10.10 17:38:56