Weekly press briefing

JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesperson): Hello, friends and colleagues. Let me start with a few points. And then I'm happy to take your questions. Let me start very briefly with today's NAC, concentrated almost exclusively on Afghanistan.

One issue, in particular, I wanted to mention in that is the training mission: the NATO training mission in Afghanistan. There was a discussion with commander of ISAF and the Supreme Allied Commander Admiral Stavridis on this subject.

It is expected that the NTMA, the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan will be stood up as we say, will be established by the end of this month. So the next two weeks or so...

The Secretary General believes but I think all the Allies believe as well that this is clearly a priority for the Alliance. Secretary General has been very clear that we must do as much as we can, and probably more, in terms of training and equipping the Afghan Security Forces to move towards a situation in which province by province they are taking lead, security responsibility for their own country.

This will require adequate and timely resourcing of the new NATO Training Mission, enhanced coordination with other actors. That must, of course, include the European Union on the ground, and we stress on the ground and adequate funding. An adequate funding must come, not just from NATO countries but as much as possible from the whole international community.

Second issue. Yesterday, as you may have seen, NATO announced that the Kosovo Security Force has reached initial operational capability. KSF as you know is a non-military, all volunteer, multi-ethnic and lightly armed security force. It is under democratic and civilian control.

Its mission is to conduct civil protection operations in Kosovo to assist civil authorities in responding to natural disasters and other emergencies. Now, the next goal for the KSF is to reach operational capability which is expected to take two to five years. And KFOR will mentor and support this process.

What this initial operational capability means?

It means that the KSF has proven itself capable of planning, preparing and executing disaster relief operations, to support the institutions in Kosovo. This includes the availability of qualified and trained personnel, the number being... The goal is 1,400. They are now 1,300. Sufficient equipment and the procedures to execute the mission.

I think that's basically what there is to say on this subject. So as I say full operational capability in two to five years. The figure for full operational capability is 2,500.

Third issue I'd like to address very quickly is the Secretary General's upcoming schedule. Tomorrow, he will have a meeting with Prime Minister Van Rompuy as well at the Foreign and Defence Ministers of course here in Brussels. He will arrive at Val Duchesse at 12:15 and I think there will be a brief photo opportunity and brief statements. Maybe the opportunity for a couple of questions. Again, that's at 12:15. Then, on Friday, he will give his first major speech. The subject is on Russia.

It will be at the Concert Noble, hosted by the Carnegie Foundation here in Brussels. In essence, the theme is a new beginning in NATO-Russia relations. And that may well be the title.

If you are interested in attending, including broadcasters. You can be in touch with Carnegie. The point of contact is someone by the name of Claire Reynolds. I'll give you her number right now. It's 02 7357938. The speech and the follow-on discussion will be broadcasted live on the NATO website in English and in Russian.

For those to follow it in Russian, interested broadcasters can make a booking to EBU in Geneva for live pictures. The speech is scheduled at 11 o'clock in the morning. It will last about 30 minutes. And there will be about 30 minute Q&A session to follow. That is on Friday.

Then the following week, is the UN General Assembly Week. Secretary General will attend most of it. It has a number of bilaterals that are in the "to be confirmed phase". But there are two that I will mention because I think a) they are confirmed; and b) worth mentioning 1) is a of course a bilateral with a UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and at a time and date that I think I will leave because it's not yet determined with Foreign Minister Lavrov.

This is in the continuing re-energizing of the political level relationship with or between NATO Nations and Russia, between NATO and Russia that was given a boost in Corfu, just a few months ago. So I mentioned that, that...

Yes, strategic concept. As you know, the Secretary General is now leading a process that will lead itself to the new strategic concept. There will be a number of events to feed the strategic debate and the deliberations of the group of experts. We will have strategic concepts, seminars which will be attended by the experts as a group. Other NATO events which are specifically geared towards a strategic concept. And then conferences organized by relevant think tanks in the second two categories, the experts may, of course, as they're available. All of this is to help structure the work of the group of experts.

We have now planned at least four of the first categories, four strategic concept seminars. There's basically one full day... They're designed to be full day events, one day events organized directly by a host nation or a group of nations or by a relevant think tank. They will be as inclusive as possible. This is in the spirit. The Secretary General said from the beginning that he wants this to be the most inclusive ever process of consultation in developing a document like this with strategic thinkers, academics and of course representatives of the media.

The whole exercise may not be always open to the media. But substantial amounts of it will. The second, third and fourth have not yet been absolutely nailed down. But I can tell you the first that will be on the 16th of October. It will be in Luxembourg.

The subject is NATO's fundamental security tasks, panels to discuss among other things the changing security environment and the impact on NATO; second, the core task of the Alliance; third, NATO's political role on a whole host of possible issues and finally overall strategy, hard versus soft security, crisis management in Article 5, how do we balance all of these against new requirements.

So these are in essence, the themes of the first seminar. Subsequent seminars will look at different areas such as partnerships or transformation. So that is that. And finally, very finally, I promise, just to tell you that we have sent out the initial media advisory for the defence ministers meetings in Bratislava which will be the 22nd and 23rd of October.

The final program has not been finally established. But I think the general sense amongst Allies and the Secretary General as well is that this meeting should, of course, have two themes: transformation and operations with a heavy focus on operations and with a heavy focus on Afghanistan.

There are a number of very important processes underway which will require discussion. I mentioned one. And that is the establishment of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan.

The second is the Commander ISAF's initial assessment which will be discussed by defence ministers, the election process wherever it is going will certainly be relevant context for these discussions.

So I think you can expect to see the mission in Afghanistan play a very prominent role in the discussions there. We are anticipating that it will also include a meeting, as we call it, in ISAF format, so including all 42 of the troop contributing nations.

I do not, for the moment, foresee meetings outside of these two formats: NATO only and ISAF. So nothing else for the moment is being envisioned. That is everything that I had to raise with you. And I'm happy to take your questions. Please.

Q: Hello James. It will not escape you that during Sunday's televised debate between Angela Merkel and Steinmeier there was talk of 2013, 2014 as the horizon for beginning to consider an exit out of Afghanistan. Monday, we had... your foreign ministers here also talking about 2013. And today, I came across a story quoting German State Secretary and the federal Minister of Defence Thomas Kossendey saying that NATO is working on a new strategy at the initiative of German government to pull out the Alliance Forces from Afghanistan possibly the year 2015. So my question is very simple. Is there a discussion on dates underway in NATO?

APPATHURAI: No, I can tell you very clearly. There is no plan being developed for a pullout of NATO forces by 2015. There is no plan for a pull-out. There is no plan that has a date for pullout. But this must be equally clear: NATO has no intention, nor desire to stay in Afghanistan ad infinitum. There must be a process of transition. Transition to Afghan lead.

And we, as NATO, certainly want to see that come as quickly as possible, but not too quickly. The conditions must be right for this to happen. This is why the Secretary General invests so heavily in the training mission because we cannot just snap our fingers and make it happen. It must be.... It requires investment and a certain amount of time.

But we are going for end-state and not end-date. We just want to bring that end-state as quickly as possible. And the end-state is when the Afghan security forces can provide for their security of their own country.

Start here.

Q: Yes, it's about... on Afghanistan. I would like to have, if possible, a comment about this statement made the Europe observer mission that said yesterday and this morning, in Gateway that there was 1,500,000 fraud irregularities on the road.

APPATHURAI: The question was... Is there a comment on what the European observer mission announced this morning their views on fraudulent ballots. The short answer is: "You won't be surprised to hear me say this." Strictly speaking, NATO of course has no role in commenting on the voting process.

Our role is security. From our point of view, the security aspects of the operation. Sorry, the security aspects of the elections went at least as well as it can be expected, probably better they could be expected. What has happened subsequently is, of course, the responsibility of others. The key points... We want these elections, of course, to be as credible as possible. Everybody wants that. There are bodies that are mandated to try to ensure these elections are as credible as possible. We should let them do what they are mandated to do in the interim period. Because this is clearly a period of some... lack of clarity, let's put it that way.

The Secretary General has called repeatedly... And I think I can repeat that call on his behalf for all the political actors in Afghanistan to demonstrate responsibility. That becomes all the more important as we go through this very complicated phase.

Q: James, on the training mission. Any more details on how many persons will be going. And what will be the funding for how long?

APPATHURAI: I'll give you all those details in a two weeks... in two weeks.

Q: Yes, actually there was just a bit of a follow-up to that. Precisely what's meant by the mission being stood up? And so what will actually take place when it stood up. And also any... could you comment on some German... also on some other German reports, the German commander in the Kunduz incident... sorry, the German commander in the Kunduz incident had acted in clear violation of rules and procedures. Is that the case?

APPATHURAI: The mission being stood up means the following, that the... when it is stood up that the roles and responsibilities assigned to NTMA will then be in essence activated. An NTMA will have the responsibility to do high-level military training, police training and to provide support in the field to both police and military as well as to provide equipment. I think the equipment is only for the military. But I'll confirm that. This implies... what this means that many of those roles or responsibilities that are being carried out by what we call CSTA-Alpha by the American Training Command in Afghanistan will be transferred over to the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan.

A lot of the first generation to provide supplemental personnel to the training mission in Afghanistan has already happened. There is more of that process going on now to fill in the extra positions above and beyond what the existing training command and training effort already has.

The first round went as far as I understand which is the higher level officers went very well. And there is a process, I think, in the next days to fill out some of the remaining positions. So that is in essence the two bits: staffing it and transferring and assign the responsibilities for the command from other areas.

As to the second issue, I have been in touch with ISAF on this issue. I'm assured by ISAF that there is no ISAF report that ascribes an assessment of the procedures followed during the Kunduz incident. If there is another report based on what you and I have both seen in the German media, I am not aware of it nor has anyone with whom I've spoken. And I've spoken to people at a very high level in ISAF. Are they aware of that?

Q: (INAUDIBLE)

APPATHURAI: The initial fact-finding mission which was led by Admiral Greg Smith returned last week. The report that Admiral Smith provided to Commander of ISAF did not include an assessment of the procedures followed. There is now a full assessment mission led by a Canadian Major General (his name escapes me for the moment) who will be providing a full report to commander of ISAF. But that process has just started. I don't know when it will be complete.

Q: James, you said that a transition period would be expected as soon as possible in Afghanistan. Is this training mission installation part of it? Or should we wait for something else that is to say political or military progress on the ground?

APPATHURAI: Répète encore une fois en français pour que je puisse répondre.

Q: Okay. Tu parles de transition.

APPATHURAI: Oui.

Q: When should that transition start according to NATO member States? Is it a general view that a transition one day could occur? Or is that something more precise?

APPATHURAI: Hum, first point to mention is that transition has already taken place. In the Kabul area, there is one district, I believe, that had not yet been handed over, that is about to happen. And then the entire Kabul area, not just the city but the surroundings will be under the lead security responsibility of Afghan forces and that is... has had according to the measures of effectiveness that we can see a beneficial effect within Kabul. Obviously, this seems very complicated.

But certainly since they have taken lead security responsibility which was last year, overall security incidents in the region under which they now have leadership, for which they now have lead security responsibilities are down by 40%. So it can happen and it can work. It has happened and it has worked.

The next step, of course, will be to take the process further, but based - and this is critical - based on the capability by the Afghan security forces with support from ISAF to carry out these responsibilities effectively. That will have to be discussed, assessed by our military personnel, by our military authorities, including first and foremost commander of ISAF. There will have to be a political discussion.

The NATO Training Mission will play an important part in this. There's absolutely no doubt of that, which is again why the Secretary General ascribes so much importance to it. It will be a centerpiece of enhancing the training and equipping of the Afghan security forces.

Q: James, when you said that the Secretary General is investing a lot in the training mission, what did you mean exactly and what is your target for the Afghani national army and the security forces?

APPATHURAI: When I say investing a lot, I mean... I would say each and every conversation he has with political leaders, and I guarantee that will be the case in the ministerial. He stresses the importance of this. He has not hidden that from his public intervention as well.

Yesterday, he met with the Czech, the Estonian, the Finnish foreign ministers. In every meeting I sit with him, this is one of the main areas of discussion because he feels that it is the platform for moving forward. The key point is this: We need to show progress on the ground. And the Secretary General believes that one of the key areas of demonstrable progress will be handing over district by district, province by province lead security responsibility and to make that happen the NTMA must be fully resourced and effective. So he is, as I say, very focused. And he's a pretty focused guy on this particular issue.

Q: (INAUDIBLE)

APPATHURAI: Sorry, which was...

Q: ... which...

APPATHURAI: Oh, the target?

Q: Yes.

APPATHURAI: You know the current target figure. And that is approved by the Joint Coordination, the monitoring board which is the 134,000 Afghan army. There has been no decision to change that. But you have heard I'm quite sure like I have many comments from many people, knowledgeable people that number should be larger. There has not been, as far as I'm aware, a discussion within NATO on formally raising that target. And of course, the Afghans and the JCMB would also, I imagine, have something to say on that subject.

Q: James, General McChrystal was during the weekend in the Netherlands. He said the major threat to the West is coming from Pakistan.

APPATHURAI: Who said this, sorry?

Q: General McChrystal. He was in the Netherlands during weekend and he spoke to PRTs mission and development minister of the Netherlands. And he said that a major threat to the West is coming from Pakistan, not from Afghanistan. And my second question is what will the the nature of NATO relationship with the Karzai given the fact upon the departure of previous secretary general. He criticized heavily Karzai regime and also Kabul administration. So what will...?

And it seems to me that whatever election complaint commission comes out of it. But Karzai seems to be continuing. So what sort of harmony when afghan administration under Karzai will have?

APPATHURAI: Thank you. I have to say I did not see those comments from commander of ISAF. I think that we all believe... But I'm reasonably sure that the Pakistani government and people must also believe that the extremism and terrorism that we see in parts of Afghan but also in Pakistan pose a threat not just to the two countries but more widely as well. I think a little look back in time demonstrates exactly why we would think that.

What does that mean? It means we have to be successful in support of the Afghans inside their country. But it's also why NATO leaders have all encouraged Pakistan to do what it is doing to be as effective as possible in combating extremism and terrorism inside its own borders. And finally, of course, that we need to step up our cooperation, in particular across the border. And that means establishing in a very practical sense all the border control coordination centres etc. So it means there's a lot to be done.

And I think that we all would agree that there is a threat in that region which is wider than just that region alone, sorry which affects a wider area than just the particular region itself.

The new Secretary General Mr. Rasmussen had a very warm and open discussion with President Karzai when he saw him. But he saw President Karzai as the president. He did not see him as a candidate. And he met with opposition leaders as well.

Whoever is elected at the end of this process to be president of Afghanistan, I can guarantee two things. First, that the Secretary General will work very hard to have a warm and professional working relationship with that person. Secondly, that he and all the NATO leaders will encourage the new government to take active, concrete, visible measures to combat corruption, to improve governance. Because that is a central element to diminishing the strength of the insurgency in Afghanistan, which we're trying to help the Afghan government to fight. Yes. Sir.

Q: Just a follow-up on rules of engagement and so peace in Afghanistan. In order for a commander on the ground to request close air support does he need to have troops in contact?

APPATHURAI: I don't know the answer to that question. I will check.

Q: I've got a couple of questions. I'll ask them quickly. So you'll have more time to answer. The strategic concept consultations... There's a question, I think, already asked by a colleague of mine to the SecGen, what's going to happen to them? What kind of mechanism is that behind that window. Is that going to a draw? Going to be read, used. On the Afghan National Army Trust Fund, my question is where are we on changing its mandate, adding the pledges and any funds actually committed. Yes, I'll leave it at that, thanks.

APPATHURAI: OK, let me just have a quick look at this... Yes, in essence, the strategic concept seminars will be geared toward reaching preliminary conclusions in merging consensus points. And a group of experts... Sorry.

Q: (INAUDIBLE)

APPATHURAI: Ah with the public...

Q: (INAUDIBLE)

APPATHURAI: I don't know about the word "obligations". But let me say this, the Secretary General has no intention of carrying out kabuki exercises or creating Potemkin villages when it comes to public consultation. We certainly don't have the money for that, nor is that the point. He does want to hear.. And we all want to hear as much as possible what the public has to say. That's the first point.

But second, and he was clear in this opening press conference, he intends for that to be fed into the work of the group of experts and then into the work of nations. So I can assure you that the main points of the public consultation or the public comments an input to the process will be put into a coherent and usable structure and then delivered to the people who need to make the decisions. And they will be given that as input to their deliberations.

You asked about the Trust Fund. And my short answer is nothing much has changed from the latest that I know and where did I put this? Yes, the latest that I have is... that since March 2009, it's established a total of 221 million Euros has been pledged towards ANA sustainment. And that is where we are, as far as I know.

Q: James, you mentioned today about (INAUDIBLE) relations with Russia. And (INAUDIBLE) .... NATO have considered a new Russian law which gives green lights for using military forces... Russian military forces outside the country.

APPATHURAI: I have to say I'm not aware of that new Russian law. So I will have to go and see what the assessment is from our expert. So, I'm sorry, I won't provide a comment on it.

Q: (INAUDIBLE) from Minus News. As far as I remember, last weekend I think, prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of the International Criminal Court said in New-York that he will... he intends to investigate the possible war crimes committed in Afghanistan both by foreign forces and by Talibans.

NATO has been contacted by ICC? Or they have any comment on that? Thank you.

APPATHURAI: I will say is this... Of course, the ICC is an independent body. NATO has nothing to hide. We have a clear mandate from the UN. We're there on invitation of the Afghan government to follow agreed rules of engagement in a very transparent way and have legal advice at every stage of the chain of command and during operations.

Mistakes are investigated and necessary actions are taken by 28 democratic countries. So we are very confident in the way in which we carry out our operations and that they are fully compliant with international law. It's the most I can say.

Please.

Q: That's my two cofounding questions. Now, they're actually very short, pertaining to the NTM. It was still on the 10th... as I understand, September. So why the delay there?

APPATHURAI: Yes.

Q: And more importantly, you mentioned it will equip or plans to equip the army at least. Just a general question. Is it going to lightly equip all of these ANA troops are to give them heavier stuff so that they can pound the Talibans on their own.

APPATHURAI: To answer the first question, you're very right or almost right. He was intended for the 14th. Then we have moved it up to the 10th. The reason for the two week is one with which we're all familiar: IT problems. They just had to set up the network. And it's not connecting.

The equipment. I mean, the overall aim, of course, is to have an Afghan Army that is capable of conducting operations with... Of course, I'm just checking to see that's okay. I thought it was correction from staff. Is that I have a 25% present reduction at total. The idea is that they should be able to conduct operations as autonomously as possible . Their immediate requirements, of course, not high tech, high end equipment, but basic stuff, from rifles to trucks. At a certain stage that will develop. But I think the primary focus now is on basic military requirements.

Please.

Q: Sorry this question probably won't be as simple. I'm confused about the Strategic Review. You're supposed after 60 days sort of gaining for a100, I guess. You said, the minister was going to talking about it in Bratislava. Can you give me a sense. I mean, I heard that a few weeks ago, it was already on SecGen's table and that it wasn't there. We've heard a general, perhaps a couple of generals speaking about the need for more troops in Southern Afghanistan. At the same time we've heard M.S. Holbrooke saying "We're not going to go out and force our Allies to drum up troops." So what's the evolution? Where is it, troops mentioned or not?

APPATHURAI: Eh today, in the NAC, the Supreme Allied Commander Admiral Stavridis and commander of ISAF General McChrystal provided ambassadors with an initial briefing on the assessment. The Allies will in the coming days examine the assessment, both on the political and the military tracks. And there will be a discussion. At least, there will be another discussion, let's put it that way, in the coming days.

Sorry, oh Sir, there was another question. Did you ask a question that I totally forgot?

Q: It took so long to get here.

APPATHURAI: What? Basically, the assessment has had to move and quite rightly through the NATO system according to the procedures that we have and not from bureaucratic reasons. This is the procedure because Brunssum had to examine the document and have the Commander - General Ramms’ assessment. He then forwarded that to Admiral Stavridis who staffed it through SHAPE. They provided their own assessment on top of the two or taking it into account General Ramms advice. And that complete package is what ambassadors will examine and what the military representatives of course will examine as well.

Q: I was late. So apologies if that was asked already. But can you give us a sneak preview of the speech by the SecGen on Russia on Friday? Will he have anything new and specific about the way forward?

APPATHURAI: Sure, Secretary General, obviously I can't go too far. But Secretary General has titled his speech something like... I think it is "NATO-Russia Relations: A New Beginning". And that, I think, summarizes his intention. He wants to help to create the conditions for a new beginning in NATO-Russia relations. He will indeed not only set out his views on why we are where are in terms of the NATO-Russia relationship. But also very specific ideas, proposals on his part for how we might in different areas do better at building cooperation, and building trust. I think I will not say anymore on that subject, not least because he is looking right now at the draft of his speech.

Q: (INAUDIBLE)

APPATHURAI: I don't think it's a conference. It's a stand-alone speech hosted by Carnegie on Friday. But it's not a conference. It's just a speech by the Secretary General and a Q&A.

Q: (INAUDIBLE)

APPATHURAI: Not that I'm aware of it.

Q: James, perhaps the last question. I come back to the air strike in Afghanistan, the two tankers. And we haven't had the opportunity to speak to you last week. I would like to know. How do you explain the behavior of high military McChrystal in Afghanistan that he accepted the presence of one journalist from Washington Post as far as I know and no...? no other person. Is it now usual in NATO that every journalist, when high militaries, examines an event like this?

APPATHURAI: First, you will understand, I was not party to that decision. But I will say this. First, the Washington Post is an extremely reputable organization. So let no one criticize their independence. But secondly, there is a spirit of transparency involved. I think commander of ISAF wishes to do as much as possible, these kinds of things, in a transparent way rather simply in a virtual sense behind closed doors. But beyond that I was, of course, not involved in the decision-making. Will it be a standard procedure? I don't know what is procedure. Ça recommence. That's to... That's to bring it to an end. Yes.