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Updated: 16-Nov-2006 NATO Speeches

NATO HQ

13 Nov. 2006

Video interview

with General Ray Henault, chairman of NATO's Military Committee

Background
Chairman of the Military Committee
Multimedia
Video interview
Audio file
(.MP3/7528kb)

Q: Today, I'm speaking with General Ray Henault, chairman of NATO's Military Committee. Thank you very much for being here today.

Henault: Good afternoon, Heather.

Q: Thank you. I understand that it's been a very busy time for you with Riga only about two weeks away. Now, you recently met with the NATO Chiefs of Defence and the Partner Chiefs of Defence. Could you tell us what was discussed?

Henault: Well, this was a very timely meeting for us, to be perfectly honest, Heather. It's just two weeks away from the Riga Summit that you've just alluded to. This has given us an opportunity really to look back at where we've been, the successes we've achieved, and to take stock of where we are as we lead up to the Summit. And, in particular, for the Chiefs of Defence to ensure that they have a good set of agreed advice, that they can provide to our political arm here in NATO, to inform, if you like, and also shape the discussions that are going to be held at Riga, from the military perspective.

The  discussions with the Chiefs of the Defence were very wide-ranging, they were very intense, and they were also very productive. And of course, as you would imagine, the majority of our discussions were focused on operations, which is our number one job. They were focused on transformation, capabilities, improving the way we do business, and also on partnerships and how we can help make that much better in the Alliance.

In terms of operations, our primary focus, of course, was on Afghanistan. Afghanistan is still job one for us. That was probably the most intense portion of what we discussed. We spent a fair amount of time, in fact, I would say that overall for operations themselves that we dedicated almost two-thirds of the meeting to operations. And on ISAF, a very good portion of that, especially on the first day.

Again, on ISAF, we were looking at the results that we've achieved, with the expansion to the full territory of Afghanistan, which occurred just a little over a month ago. We looked at what it means to resourcing, what we do in Afghanistan—a Combined Joint Statement of Requirement as we call it—but the needs that we have, both in equipment and people, to actually do the job. And the fact that it's no secret that we have some shortfalls in that respect, especially in the southern area, and we got into some fairly intense discussions as to how to satisfy that requirement, to ensure that we can achieve success in the long term.

We also got into discussion caveats, or limitations on how we employ troops. Again, a very element for the commander, because if he has a minimum number of caveats—there always will be some—but the less he has the more he can be flexible and he can move his troops around to satisfy operational requirements as they unfold in Afghanistan.

And so we urged the Chiefs of Defence and we discussed very intently how to minimise those, and certainly they're committed to trying to do that.
And of course, we also discussed how we can support the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, how we can make more intense efforts, if you like, to support reconstruction and development, because as has been said by many, and the chiefs reaffirmed this as well, the military alone can't achieve the mission completely in Afghanistan. It takes a very real cooperation between the civil and military components that are involved there, whether it's non-governmental organisations, or international organisations, the Afghans themselves and so on.

So, again, we reaffirmed how important it is for us to be able to coordinate with other actors in Afghanistan, and also to take the steps that are required to get best success. Because we know that there can be no security without development and no development without security. I mean, they both go hand-in-hand, and so a long-term security will fuel a development and we're really intent on being able to do that.

Now, with the chiefs, we also then got into a discussion of a little bit of other operations, Kosovo, in particular, because we are, again, assuring security and stability in Kosovo during the status talks discussions. And we intend to maintain that as we go through that, and then determine... and we did discuss a little bit of what we would need to perhaps consider in the aftermath of the decision on Kosovo, as to what we might do to provide for the military component of that follow-up.

Now we did discussion some of our other operations as well. It was less intense in that respect, but we did discuss the operations in the Mediterranean. Of course, our training mission in Iraq and also our support to Darfur. We talked about capabilities, of course, and also what we need to do to modernise the organisation, to adapt to the realities of this changing international environment that we're in, and part of the focus on that was really on the Comprehensive Political Guidance, and what it means to us from a military perspective, how we're going to support that political guidance, which will be published at Riga.

We also discussed—this would be no surprise to our listeners— the NATO Response Force and our run-up to full operational capability for the NATO Response Force; what it means to us as an Alliance, the transformational engine that it represents, and of course, satisfying some of the outstanding shortfalls that we have there, again, in force generation and satisfying all of the needs.

We've seen some good success with the NATO Response Force in terms of our support to Pakistan, and the very successful exercise in Cape Verde last summer. But this requires a sustained effort, not only to ensure that we can achieve full operational capability, which we hope that we will be able to do by the time of the Summit, but it also requires a sustained effort in the long term. And so that became a very important part of what we discussed. 

We also looked at modernisation initiatives across the spectrum, whether that was NATO air-ground surveillance, or what we're doing to improve our strategic airlift capability our communications capability and so on.

And finally, we looked at partnerships, because that's also important to us in the overall spectrum of what we do with NATO. In the military we certainly try to support the political ambitions of the Alliance, and of course, all of our efforts have been aligned very much to the political side, especially we have been running up to Riga.

And on the partnership side, it's important for us to be able to ensure that we can undertake practical military-to-military cooperation, and we've done so in a number of areas, not the least of which was during Operation Active Endeavour where a Russian vessel was integrated into our operations; another clear signal of the kind of way we're reaching out in that respect.

So the partnership element was important in its own right, and it also let us into the second day of our activity, which of course, included meetings with our Russian counterparts, with our Ukrainian counterparts, with the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Committee, of which the Russians and Ukrainians are both a part of, and of course, a specific meeting as well with our Mediterranean Dialogue Partners. 

So a very full agenda of activity, which was completed on the first day, I might add, by a discussion with the Chiefs of Defence and the Secretary General. This has become a bit of a tradition for us, for the Secretary General to come in and speak to the Chiefs. Again, a very productive discussion, which got into many of the same issues that I've just talked about, and reinforced, one more time, the very real importance of close harmony and coordination between the political and military arms of NATO. Something which, again, has been reflected in a very, very good discussion between that body.

So a very active couple of days, but a couple of days which we know will help to fuel again and shape the discussion that we'll have in Riga in just a little less than two weeks time.

Q: Thank you, several important issues. To go a little further on Riga, from a military perspective, what do you expect from Riga Summit?

Henault: Well, the Riga Summit, of course, is going to be focused on transformation and the many changes that the Alliance has gone through as a result of the changing security environment that we're in.

Heads of State and Government are very much going to want to assure themselves, and reconfirm that what we're doing as an Alliance, both on the political and military fronts, is, in fact, allowing this Alliance to become a very real security provider on the international scene, and that what we're doing is ensuring security and stability in any region that we're called upon to act.

And the Comprehensive Political Guidance, of course, give us some very real targets and some very real ambitions, recognising as well that we have some significant challenges in terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and of course, the effects of failed and failing states.

So I know the chiefs... or Heads of State and Government are really going to want to confirm for themselves that we're going in the right direction.
Now those same Heads of State and Government are going to be focused on many of the same things that we discussed during our Military Committee in Chiefs of Staff session. Again, no surprise. But they'll want to look at operations and they'll want to know that we are providing operational effect.

They'll also want to know that the operations that we've undertaken—and they will be assured of this—are achievable, and also that they're well resourced, and that's something, again, that we will discuss, I would assume at the Heads of State and Government level in some depth, given the overall requirement, not only to conduct the current operations that we're doing, but also to sustain them in the long term for whatever period of time is determined to be required by the political arm of NATO and again, by Heads of State and Government.

Secondly, they're going to want to know that we're well harmonised from the military and political perspectives in trying to achieve the modernisation initiatives that are under way, improving our capabilities, taking all of the steps that are necessary to ensure that we can project our forces, that we can sustain our forces, and that we have all the communications and other capabilities needed to ensure interoperability, not only between NATO forces, but also with our partners and with the many other contact countries who are supporting our operations. Again, realising that we have some 37 nations involved in operations in Afghanistan, and a very similar number in Kosovo, for example.

So they're going to focus on that, without a doubt. And then they're going to focus on partnerships, and I would expect that they'll want to be assured that the discussions that we're having with our partners are leading towards, from the military perspective now, in my case, to good interoperability and the ability for us to burden-share, not only across the Alliance, but also across the very many partner nations who we are very grateful, are providing us with support on the international scene in the many operations that we have under way.

So I think that's going to be the clear focus of Riga, and I'm hoping that at the end of the Riga summit that we will receive very clear guidance from our Heads of State and Government on what we need to do next, on where they would like to put the priorities, from the Alliance's perspective, both on the political and military fronts, and that we will look very much forward to developing an action plan from the military perspective to satisfy and support all of those Alliance objectives.

That's what I would hope for out of the summit.

Q: Thank you. And for my final questions, I'd like to focus on, as you said, NATO's most important operation right now, Afghanistan. Now that ISAF is operating through the entire country, could you talk about how the operation is progressing and what lies ahead.

Henault: Well, you've hit on the number one operational priority for NATO, and I thank you for that. Afghanistan, again, was a very clear focus of our  discussions during the Chiefs of Staff meeting. It was not, not only at the Chiefs of Staff and Chiefs of NATO Defence Staff, but also amongst the partner discussions that we had because many, if not most of our partners also support our operations in Afghanistan.

Now Afghanistan was clearly focused on where we are now in the aftermath of our Stage 4 expansion, which we now have responsibility from a military perspective for the entire surface of Afghanistan, supporting the Afghan government in exerting its influence throughout the territory.

And so we looked at that, and I think we are achieving some successes. I mean, we have to remember that even though we're having some difficulties, and there is some very real resistance to our expansion, especially in the south and in the east, that we are achieving successes.

We've seen the north, for example, and the western parts of Afghanistan remaining relatively stable, where reconstruction and development, and a number of other activities are taking hold, and where we are seeing a relatively low level of insurgent activity, although there is some, and I would always remind people that there are difficulties across the entire Afghanistan itself.

But we also looked at what it means in the south and in the East and the importance, very real importance of having the troops and the equipment required to do the job there, especially in the face of an insurgency, an opposition on the part of many opposing militant forces, whether they're Taliban or freedom fighters or criminal elements, to our presence there. Especially after many decades where there was very little, if any, authority in some of those regions.

And so we now need to make sure that we're well-resourced, that we're equipped, that we have the right training, the right equipment, particularly... and also that we're able to react to this threat. And we have been, so far.

The forces in Afghanistan have risen to the challenge exceedingly well, especially in the southern region where they were challenged quite significantly as we expanded. And they've shown the Taliban, and any opposing militant force, that NATO will not back down. NATO is there to introduce security and stability and will take whatever measure is necessary to set the conditions for reconstruction and development.

So that became a very real focus of what we were doing, and what we discussed.

We also looked, of course, at the very real requirements for us to ensure that we cooperate as much as possible with the civilian organisations on the ground to promote the kind of reconstruction and development that's so important, winning the hearts and minds of the Afghans and helping them to make all those changes that will improve their quality of life, and ultimately in the end will allow us to hand back the responsibility for Afghanistan to Afghans themselves.

We also looked at what it means from a Provincial Reconstruction Team point of view to harmonising those efforts across the country because we do recognise the very real importance of reconstruction and development.

Again, we're there to help support that. We don't want to coordinate the activities of the civil organisations that are in the country, but we certainly want to coordinate with them to ensure that the reconstruction and development can take place safely. And so that became another clear focus of what we talked about.

And then the whole aspect of sustainment of Afghanistan was a very real part of our discussion sets. And so when you look at all of that, the requirements for command and control, the ongoing requirements for equipment, the interoperability that's necessary for forces in theatre, and the very real need to adjust as we go along and adjust to the changing circumstances, and especially to be able to adjust to changing headquarters, command and control systems that we're putting in place, the overall sustainment requirements and projection needs, it became a very interesting discussion.

But one that was very fruitful and reaffirmed the commitment of the Chiefs of Defence to complete this mission, to continue sustaining it, and again, that was no only the NATO Chiefs, but the also the partner Chiefs of Defence who are involved in Afghanistan and remain very committed to achieving success there overall as well.

So, a very fruitful discussion and one which took up a lot of our time and rightfully so.

Q: Great. Well, I'd like to thank you very much for joining us today, and I wish you the best of luck at Riga.

Henault: Thank you very much. It has been a pleasure.

 
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