News Conference by the Secretary General

Informal meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Ministerial Session

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER (Secretary General of NATO): Sorry to be a bit late, but there were two important subjects on the agenda of the North Atlantic Council and in 10, 15 minutes time we'll start with the NATO-Russia Council.

You know what those two subjects were: Afghanistan first. We concluded that we are making progress and making a difference. If you look at the force levels in comparison to what they were a few months ago, then we have gone up from 30,000 at Riga to 39,000 by the summer and I think that the conclusion is justified that operations are achieving their aim.

Having said that, there's still much to be done. One of the leading themes was, and I was glad that some Ministers announced already very concrete steps, that we should step up our activities as far as the training of the Afghan National Army is concerned. That means that we need more teams to go to Afghanistan to do just that. That was a very important line.

Second important line, not entirely new, but nevertheless discussed by many, that's the international community, of course in close cooperation with the Afghan government, steps up its coordination. That is not a NATO responsibility. NATO is the enabler. ISAF is important, but the integration of the civilian and military aspects, in our jargon, the comprehensive approach, was discussed. As was, of course, counter narcotics.

It is clear that from the side of the Afghan government it is still important that they go on improving governance at the national level, but certainly at the provincial and at the local levels.

There was, of course, full recognition how important this mission is. I refer to Human Rights Watch, who recently said that the Taliban are regularly committing war crimes by targeting civilians, including attacking teachers, burning schools, killing children. In other words, it was already known, but concluded again that we, in Afghanistan, the international community, are not on the same side, definitely, of the moral argument, than the opposing forces we are confronted with there.

Informal meeting, no formal conclusions, good discussion on Afghanistan in the presence of a representative of the European Union, because NATO and the European Union will also work closely together as soon as the European Union police training mission will get off the ground.

More in general, the closest NATO-European Union cooperation is necessary. That is not also irrelevant for Afghanistan.

The second theme which Ministers discussed was missile defence. Here it was clear, as I would say to a few of you already some hours ago, that's the principle in this debate of the indivisibility of security is strongly supported by the Alliance, strongly supported by all allies.

All are affected. All are affected by the risks of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but in this case more specifically the proliferation of missiles and missile technology. So it was crystal clear that the principle and the basic principle in this discussion is the indivisibility of security.

That had already been concluded earlier. What do I conclude from this meeting? That what was discussed at Riga at the summit will not have a follow-up in the NATO framework. This is a subject which should be discussed fully and in full transparency in the North Atlantic Council.

So the discussion will go on as a follow-up of the Riga Summit. The only new element, of course, is the so-called United States third site and that influences, of course, the decision-making in Riga in the sense that Heads of State and Government could not yet take into account the third U.S. site.

It is clear that there is a full understanding between the allies that the plans in the framework of the third site cannot, and will not, and do not upset the strategic balance in Europe. There was a lot of support for the wide-ranging United States proposals vis-à-vis our Russia partners for closer cooperation on missile defence.

I  say again, we'll have the NATO-Russia Council in a short moment and you can rest assured that missile defence will be discussed there as well. But there was strong support for what had been offered. And there was, of course, the hope and there is the hope that that will yield results.

Ministers concluded that this discussion will move forward in the spirit of transparency and openness. That goes for the 26 NATO allies, but that certainly goes... but I'll come back to you later in the day after the NRC, for the relationship with our Russian friends and partners. Because finally, that is what the NATO-Russia Council is for. Not only to discuss the subjects we might immediately agree upon, but also to have a serious political debate on subjects which are a bit more difficult, because it's clear on missile defence Russia and the allies do not see eye-to-eye as we speak.

Finally, it became clear from the discussion that of course a discussion on missile defence should not be seen completely separated from other important elements as there are, and that was mentioned by a few Ministers, the need for strengthening the non-proliferation regime and arms control more in general.

In brief, discussion in NATO will continue on the basis of the foundation I have given you and on the basis of what was basically a discussion starting in 2002 and continuing at the summit in Riga in November. This is what I have to tell you...