NATO must agree Afghan drug strategy now, general says
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. John Craddock said defense ministers must agree on Friday to let alliance troops attack opium networks funding the Taliban in Afghanistan to have a hope of establishing security.
Without such a plan "more money goes into the coffers of the Taliban, more bombs are bought, more bomb makers are paid, more bullets are bought, more people who shoot the bullets are hired and more of our soldiers and our Marines get killed," he said.
"NATO has to leave here with a decision," Craddock said in an interview with Reuters after the first of two days of talks among defense ministers in Budapest that ends on Friday.
On Thursday, the ministers considered a proposal by Craddock to adopt a mission that would allow troops to target drug laboratories, trafficking networks and narcotics leaders in Afghanistan. The aim is to halt a poppy and opium trade that U.S. officials say nets the Taliban at least $80 million a year -- funds used by the insurgency to recruit, train and operate.
The United States backs the plan but some European allies say the mission is outside the scope of the alliance's agreed mandate in Afghanistan. Germany said the mission could worsen violence and put troops at greater risk.
Craddock and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued tackling the narcotics business was a fundamental part of the strategy to defeat the Taliban and allow the Afghan government to establish control throughout the country.
"NATO is charged with a safe and secure environment," Craddock said. "You cannot have a safe and secure environment with a scourge of narcotics rampant."
One option on the table at the NATO talks on Friday, Gates said, would allow those member nations opposed to the plan to opt out. If nothing is agreed, Washington might consider a unilateral mission, U.S. officials said. Gates declined comment.
FAILURE ON RESOURCES
Craddock blamed NATO allies' failure to deliver needed resources for commanders' inability to control violence in Afghanistan that has soared for more than two years due to a resurgent Taliban that now dominates swaths of territory.
"The alliance gave me a mission and said, 'Go do these things.' I told the alliance what I need to do it. We've never gotten what we ask for," he said.
He also pointed to the restrictions that countries put on the use of their troops. The secret list of restrictions, known as caveats, stop commanders in some cases from using certain forces at night or in bad weather, for example.
While U.S. officials have said many caveats were eliminated after Gates started publicly chiding allies, Craddock said the number of restrictions only fell from 83 to 76.
Craddock gave allies a new, secret list of requirements for the Afghanistan war within the last month. It includes requirements that have gone unfulfilled for years - such as another 10,000 to 12,000 combat troops as well as helicopters.
His new list includes more troops, though Craddock did not say how many. It also includes more helicopters for medical evacuations; more surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence assets; and aircraft that provide all-weather surveillance and communications.
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
