President Karzai will have to bargain hard at the NATO Chicago summit if he is to secure lasting peace. Hopes and expectations of the people are very high, Killid reporters say.
President Karzai will have to bargain hard at the NATO Chicago summit if he is to secure lasting peace. Hopes and expectations of the people are very high, Killid reporters say.The world’s most powerful leaders are meeting on May 20 and 21 in Chicago, President Barack Obama’s hometown, to discuss Afghanistan after 2014. President Hamid Karzai will be leading a delegation that will have to secure long-term funding and equipment for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
In the run-up to the conference some of the likely obstacles were ironed out. On May 16 NATO sent an invitation to President Asif Zardari to join the meeting, bringing the curtain down on a six-month stand off that was sparked off by an incident on the border that led to the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers. The Pakistan government was swift to retaliate and closed the border to NATO convoys carrying supplies to land-locked Afghanistan. Last week, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani said the border would open to NATO trucks.
Two weeks earlier the US president had paid a nocturnal visit to Kabul to sign a long-term strategic agreement with his Afghan counterpart. The pact, which is titled Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement, outlines cooperation with Afghanistan once the US and NATO forces leave. Many crucial details have to be worked out including how many troops will remain in military bases here. But that will not happen in Chicago.
Spokesman of the Ministry of Defence General Zaher Azimi says the Chicago summit will decide the fate of the next decade in Afghanistan. Will President Karzai bargain hard on sticking points like the decision to reduce ANSF numbers?
Member of Parliament Abdul Wahab Erfan wants the government to explain why security forces are being reduced from 375,000 to 230,000. “Is this because of lack of financial support or is Afghanistan going to ask its neighbours in the region to help police the peace?” he wonders.
Sayed Jamal Fakoori Behshti, member of the parliamentary internal security commission, thinks the government should go armed with a draft a plan to Chicago. In his opinion this is the best time for the government to bargain with NATO as “the destiny of Afghanistan is very important for the withdrawing NATO forces.” He advises the Afghan delegation which will include ministers to “attend the summit with specified target and clear suggestions on how to equip the ANSF.”
Securing security
He warns that any plan to reduce the number of troops on the ground “would be damaging to security”.
The government is hopeful that President Obama’s summit in his hometown – as much intended to win domestic support for his re-election bid in 2013 – will pledge money to the tune of 4.1 billion USD. NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told a press conference in Brussels that NATO would state “our commitments regarding financial support to Afghan forces at the Chicago summit.” He has promised NATO participation in the “preservation of achievements which have been gotten by sacrifices” in Afghanistan.
Defence Ministry spokesman General Azimi said, “The ministry expects there will be a lot of attention to equipping the ASNF at the Chicago NATO summit.”
Will there be agreement between NATO members on the way forward in Afghanistan?
There is no clear answer to this with NATO members like France having signalled their intention to quit Afghanistan even before the scheduled pullout. New President Francois Hollande who edged out his predecessor, Nicholas Sarkozy, in elections, has promised to bring French troops home. “I think it is better for French soldiers to exit by the end of 2012,” he is quoted saying.
