NATO

16 June 2008 -- Afghanistan's president has threatened to send troops after Taliban militants who take sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan. Analysts say the threat is somewhat hollow. But it does increase the danger of a miscalculation along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Analysts discount that President Hamid Karzai would actually be able to follow through on his threat to dispatch troops into Pakistan in hot pursuit of Islamic militant fighters. They point out that the Afghan National Army is still relatively weak and that most military and security functions in Afghanistan are handled by NATO forces.

Hilary Synnott, a former British ambassador to Pakistan, also says the NATO security forces policing Afghanistan would try to head off any such action.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2008 – The current number of forces in Afghanistan is enough to accomplish the mission, but it’ll take awhile to do so, the U.S. officer who just finished his tour as commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan said here today.

Mortar fire, Afghanistan: Photo by soldiersmediacenter (CC)

“Let’s just say that somebody waved a magic wand, and by gosh, between the Afghans and the international force you’d produced a force that was well over 400,000,” Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill said to reporters at a Pentagon news conference.    » read more »

15 May 2008 -- A House of Representatives committee has voted down attempts by Republicans to restore more than $200 million for a planned U.S. missile defense system in Europe. A final decision on funding must await House and Senate votes on separate versions of a more than $500 billion defense authorization measure for 2009, and negotiations to resolve differences.

The Bush administration wants to place 10 land-based interceptor missiles in Poland, and a related radar installation in the Czech Republic, as a NATO defense against potential ballistic missile launches on Europe, with a focus on potential Iranian threats.

The plan is controversial, and has increased tensions with Russia, which views the future system as a threat, and has faced opposition from congressional Democrats.    » read more »

April 29, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) and Ranking Member Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) applauded the Senate's unanimous passage of their resolution expressing strong support for NATO's statement at the recent Bucharest Summit that the Alliance welcomes the eventual membership of Ukraine and Georgia.

The resolution (S. Res 523), which passed last night, is co-sponsored by Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), Barack Obama (D-IL), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Gordon Smith (R-OR), George V. Voinovich (R-OH) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).    » read more »

Apr 07, 2008 -- GRAF IGNATIEVO AIR BASE, Bulgaria — In an effort to increase theater security cooperation, U.S. and Bulgarian Airmen received familiarization briefings on F-15C and MiG-29 aircraft here on April 4th.

The NATO program is designed to familiarize military personnel from member nations with cross-servicing on different aircraft. Because F-15s are currently deployed to Bulgaria as part of Operation Noble Endeavor, it presented the maintainers from the two countries an opportunity to take part in the program.

USAF F-15 crew chief F-15 Eagle to group of Bulgarian air force crew chiefs.: Photo courtesy DoD    » read more »

BUCHAREST, Romania, April 3, 2008 – NATO formally offered membership today to two of the three Balkan nations President Bush had strongly advocated for acceptance.

Albania and Croatia were accepted by the 26 other NATO members to begin the accession process after hours-long discussions of the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal decision-making body, this morning.    » read more »

April 3, 2008 -- Bucharest, Romania -- SECRETARY RICE: Good evening, and welcome to this press availability with the National Security Advisor and with me. We will divide the labor. I'm going to make a few general comments; Steve has a few specifics for you, on particularly Afghanistan and missile defense and a couple of other matters.

First Lady Laura Bush attends a folk music program in Bucharest during NATO meeting.: Photo by Shealah Craighead    » read more »

April 3, 2008 -- Bucharest, Romania -- MR. HADLEY: There were a number of issues that were addressed in the morning session. I know [in a briefing this morning my colleague] gave a backgrounder that went through a number of the issues that got adopted and moved forward in the discussions this morning. So it was a fairly rich agenda.    » read more »

April 3, 2008 -- Bucharest, Romania -- THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Secretary General, President Basescu, thank you all very much. For nearly six decades the NATO Alliance has been the hope of a world moving toward freedom and justice, and away from patterns of conflict and fear. During times of great challenge we have advanced our ideals. We've stood form in defending -- firm in defending them, and we have offered NATO's promise to nations willing to undertake the hard work and sacrifices required of its members.

George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice April 3, 2008 at North Atlantic Council Summit in Bucharest.: Photo by Chris Greenberg    » read more »

April 2, 2008 -- Bucharest, Romania -- MR. JOHNDROE: Good evening. Thank you all for waiting. Obviously the leaders' dinner ran long. We have a senior administration official to do a briefing on background.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There were a couple things going on tonight, actually. There was a leaders' meeting over dinner, and then a subsequent discussion. There was a meeting over dinner of foreign ministers. There was also a separate meeting of defense ministers. And in some sense, they were talking about the same core subjects, taking a little bit of different take on them in some ways. Also the formats of the meeting I think were different and it's important to get a sense of it.    » read more »

April 2, 2008 -- Bucharest, Romania -- PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. Secretary, thank you for your time. Thank you for organizing the Bucharest summit. I appreciate your service very much to the cause of real peace, and I want to thank you for your briefing. I'm, like you, optimistic that this is going to be a very successful summit.

Bush delivers a speech April 2, 2008 at the National Bank of Savings in Bucharest, site of the two-day NATO Summit: Photo by Chris Greenberg    » read more »

4/1/2008 -- “NATO leaders are meeting this week in Bucharest. The meeting will address a number of issues crucial to American security and the future of the alliance, specifically NATO’s mission in Afghanistan, expanding peace and stability in Europe through further enlargement, and relations with Russia.    » read more »

March 31, 2008 -- THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Laura and I are on our way to a very important NATO summit, and members of the United States Congress are on their way back to Washington. And they have a lot of work to do.

Congress needs to pass FISA reform. Our intelligence professionals are waiting on the Congress to give them the tools they need to monitor terrorist communications. Congress also needs to provide liability protection to companies that may have helped save lives after September the 11th, 2001.

President George W. Bush tastes Ukranian bread: (White House photo by Eric Draper)    » read more »

March 26, 2008 -- MR. HADLEY: Good afternoon. On Monday, the President and Mrs. Bush will travel to Europe to participate in the President's sixth and final NATO summit.

The President will first visit Ukraine to celebrate the democratic transition that has taken hold in that country since the 2004 Orange Revolution. He will express his support for the aspirations of the people of Ukraine to see their country take its rightful place within Europe, including within it's transatlantic institutions, as Ukraine continues its process of reform.    » read more »

How We Approach the Upcoming NATO Summit is Critical to the Future of the Alliance

March 11, 2008 -- BIDEN: “We always say that a summit is “critical.” But this one really is – it’s critical to the construction of Europe, to the war in Afghanistan and to the future of the alliance itself.”    » read more »