Gates faults NATO forces in southern Afghanistan
(Adds Pentagon reaction in paragraphs 6-9)
WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes NATO forces operating in the Taliban stronghold of southern Afghanistan do not know how to fight a guerrilla insurgency, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
In an interview published in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, Gates said European allies were still geared to the type of combat envisioned by Cold War planners before the fall of the Soviet Union.
"I'm worried we're deploying (military advisers) that are not properly trained and I'm worried we have some military forces that don't know how to do counterinsurgency operations," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
"Most of the European forces, NATO forces, are not trained in counterinsurgency. They were trained for the Fulda Gap," said Gates, referring to the German region where a Soviet invasion of Western Europe was considered most likely.
The interview with Gates, who on Tuesday ordered extra 3,200 U.S. Marines to Afghanistan, was expected to raise the hackles of other NATO states.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates was concerned that his remarks were being interpreted as criticism of individual countries, like Britain, Canada and the Netherlands which have forces in Afghanistan's southern region.
Instead he was saying that NATO as a whole was not structured to handle insurgencies, Morrell said.
"The secretary of defense has read the article and is disturbed by what he read," he said. "The totality of the piece leaves the impression that the secretary is disturbed with the performance of individual countries in Afghanistan. He is not," he said.
CONCERN OVER NATO CAPABILITIES
Morrell said that in the Jan. 7 interview Gates had reiterated concerns over the alliance's capabilities that he had expressed to NATO allies in Scotland in December.
The open criticism appeared to contrast with an earlier more diplomatic approach by Gates, who had tried to smooth over differences with European allies angered by caustic comments from his predecessor as defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
Many European countries have criticized the U.S. approach in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, saying U.S. forces failed to quell the Taliban, as well as the U.S.-led 2003 Iraq invasion which led to years of bloody insurgency.
The U.S. defense chief has spent months vainly urging NATO allies to send extra combat troops to Afghanistan to thwart an expected spring offensive by the Taliban, particularly in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.
The Los Angeles Times said a European NATO official involved in Afghan planning had angrily denounced Gates' comments. It quoted him as saying much of the violence in the south was a result of the small number of U.S. troops who had patrolled the region before NATO's takeover in mid-2006, a strategy that had allowed the Taliban to reconstitute there.
In the interview, Gates contrasted NATO's troubled experience in southern Afghanistan with the success of a U.S. counterinsurgency program in the east under Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez.
"Our guys in the east, under Gen. Rodriguez, are doing a terrific job. They've got the (counterinsurgency) thing down pat," Gates said. "But I think our allies over there, this is not something they have any experience with," he said.
The NATO forces are led by a U.S. commander, Army Gen. Dan McNeill, who has called for greater contributions by NATO countries. Some member nations have been reluctant to deepen their involvement. (Reporting by David Morgan, editing by David Storey)
WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes NATO forces operating in the Taliban stronghold of southern Afghanistan do not know how to fight a guerrilla insurgency, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
In an interview published in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, Gates said European allies were still geared to the type of combat envisioned by Cold War planners before the fall of the Soviet Union.
"I'm worried we're deploying (military advisers) that are not properly trained and I'm worried we have some military forces that don't know how to do counterinsurgency operations," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
"Most of the European forces, NATO forces, are not trained in counterinsurgency. They were trained for the Fulda Gap," said Gates, referring to the German region where a Soviet invasion of Western Europe was considered most likely.
The interview with Gates, who on Tuesday ordered extra 3,200 U.S. Marines to Afghanistan, was expected to raise the hackles of other NATO states.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates was concerned that his remarks were being interpreted as criticism of individual countries, like Britain, Canada and the Netherlands which have forces in Afghanistan's southern region.
Instead he was saying that NATO as a whole was not structured to handle insurgencies, Morrell said.
"The secretary of defense has read the article and is disturbed by what he read," he said. "The totality of the piece leaves the impression that the secretary is disturbed with the performance of individual countries in Afghanistan. He is not," he said.
CONCERN OVER NATO CAPABILITIES
Morrell said that in the Jan. 7 interview Gates had reiterated concerns over the alliance's capabilities that he had expressed to NATO allies in Scotland in December.
The open criticism appeared to contrast with an earlier more diplomatic approach by Gates, who had tried to smooth over differences with European allies angered by caustic comments from his predecessor as defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
Many European countries have criticized the U.S. approach in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, saying U.S. forces failed to quell the Taliban, as well as the U.S.-led 2003 Iraq invasion which led to years of bloody insurgency.
The U.S. defense chief has spent months vainly urging NATO allies to send extra combat troops to Afghanistan to thwart an expected spring offensive by the Taliban, particularly in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.
The Los Angeles Times said a European NATO official involved in Afghan planning had angrily denounced Gates' comments. It quoted him as saying much of the violence in the south was a result of the small number of U.S. troops who had patrolled the region before NATO's takeover in mid-2006, a strategy that had allowed the Taliban to reconstitute there.
In the interview, Gates contrasted NATO's troubled experience in southern Afghanistan with the success of a U.S. counterinsurgency program in the east under Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez.
"Our guys in the east, under Gen. Rodriguez, are doing a terrific job. They've got the (counterinsurgency) thing down pat," Gates said. "But I think our allies over there, this is not something they have any experience with," he said.
The NATO forces are led by a U.S. commander, Army Gen. Dan McNeill, who has called for greater contributions by NATO countries. Some member nations have been reluctant to deepen their involvement. (Reporting by David Morgan, editing by David Storey)
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