Gates warns against NATO division over Afghanistan

BERLIN, Feb 10 (KUNA) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned Sunday against the division among the North Atlantic Treat Organization (NATO) members over common security policy.
The NATO can not become divided into two alliances one ready for combat and the other unwilling to do so, Gates said in his speech to the 44th Munich Conference on Security Policy.
Germany has turned down Gate’s call to send additional combat troops to back the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Reacting to the refusal, Gates said such a development could lead to grave results and undermine the NATO.
The German contingent in the Central Asian country helps the Afghan police and military forces and contributes to humanitarian and reconstruction works in the more stable areas north Afghanistan.
It seems that some NATO members are fighting in Afghanistan and others are not, Gates said (apparently hinting at Germany).
Addressing the two-day conference in the southern German city of Munich, Javier Solana – the European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) – called on Russia to adopt the concept of state based on law.
The human beings have to agree on common arrangements on the state of law and human rights, he said, referring to Russia which should honor its commitments as a European country.
He, meanwhile, said Russia played a leading role in the global war against terrorism and the efforts aimed to resolve armed conflicts worldwide.
Russia became stronger and more influential under President Vladimir Putin which could have a positive effect on stability in Europe and the world at large, Solana pointed out.
For his part, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Borisovich Ivanov said Russia needed to have a proper place in the global policy.
Russia seeks neither to form new military alliances nor to enter open showdown with other world powers, he pointed out.
It rather seeks to maintain the world political and economic mainstreams through honoring common commitments, Ivanov asserted.
Meanwhile, Mohammad El-Baradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reiterated his warning against risks of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The WMD constitute a major source of instability to the world security, he told the ongoing conference.
The IAEA spotted 150 cases of atomic smuggling in the last few years, he revealed, indicating that the cases involved nuclear materials that did not fit military purposes.
German Foreign Minister Frank Steinmeier urged more action to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons and atomic arms race.
He also called for maintaining world pressures on Iran to force it into stopping all nuclear enrichment programs.