Nobel winner open to NATO boost in Afghanistan

By John Acher and Wojciech Moskwa

OSLO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari said on Tuesday he could support boosting NATO forces in Afghanistan but only if he thought it would lead to a political solution to the country's conflict.

"I am sympathetic to the argument that whatever facilitates a proper discussion that will solve the Afghan problem, I am prepared to look at," Ahtiasaari told a news conference at the Nobel Institute in Oslo on the eve of receiving the prize.

The veteran peace broker and former president of Finland, he said reinforcing the NATO mission there only made sense if it improved the chances of starting talks on a settlement.

"Militarily you do not win the Afghanistan exercise," said Ahtisaari, who won the 2008 peace prize for more than three decades of work to resolve conflicts on several continents.

He said that some had suggested that boosting troop numbers in Afghanistan could be the key to bringing about negotiations.

"That's the only (case) where I would be willing to accept that answer," Ahtisaari said.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has said that troop numbers in Afghanistan should be increased but that he could also support talks between the Afghan government and opposition groups to reach a political solution to the conflict.

Ahtisaari, who was Finland's president from 1994 to 2000, declined to say what advice he would give to Obama. He was holding that back for the speech he will hold on Wednesday at the prize ceremony at Oslo's city hall.

Asked if he could get involved in Middle East peacemaking, Ahtisaari said the Quartet of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations was formed for that, and Tony Blair, who heads the EU's efforts, deserved full support.

"It is not important that I get involved, it is important that the crisis will be solved," he said. "It is much more important to support him (Blair) than to get other actors."

"It is difficult if you have too many cooks in the kitchen. I think one good one is enough," the 71-year-old Finn said.



KOSOVO IRREVERSIBLE

In 2005, Ahtisaari mediated peace between Indonesia and rebels in Aceh province to end 30 years of fighting.

Until March last year he led Serb-Albanian talks on Kosovo as U.N. envoy and he was the architect of a European Union plan for Kosovo independence opposed by Serbia and its ally Russia.

Ahtisaari said he was pleased that more than 50 states have recognised Kosovo's independence and said others that have not should do so.

"Kosovo is independent, it will remain independent," he said. "The process is irreversible."

Ahtisaari said he estimated that the governments that have recognised Kosovo represent 65-70 percent of the world economy.

"I would particularly hope that a number of countries that haven't done so -- that would be naturally countries that should recognise Kosovo -- will do that," he said.

(Reporting by John Acher; Editing by Angus MacSwan)