By NNN-IRNA
Berlin : US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday warned of a growing division within NATO over its future strategy in Afghanistan.
Speaking at the Munich security conference in Munich, Gates said, “We must not — we cannot — become a two-tiered alliance of those who are willing to fight and those who are not. Such a development, with all its implications for collective security, would effectively destroy the alliance.
“At the same time, in NATO, some allies ought not to have the luxury of opting only for stability and civilian operations, thus forcing other allies to bear a disproportionate share of the fighting and the dying,” added the US official.
Gates was alluding to Germany’s continued refusal to send combat forces to southern Afghanistan where NATO troops are fighting fierce battles against revitalized Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.
He stressed that there should be no separation between rebuilding and military efforts among NATO allies.
“I also worry that there is a developing theology about a clear-cut division of labor between civilian and military matters — one that sometimes plays out in debates over the respective roles of the European Union and NATO, and even among the NATO allies,” Gates said.
“The alliance must put aside any theology that attempts clearly to divide civilian and military operations. It is unrealistic. We must live in the real world. As we noted as far back as 1991, in the real world, security has economic, political, and social dimensions. And vice versa,” he added.
Earlier this month, German politicians expressed outrage over the sending of a ‘stern’ letter by Gates, calling for the deployment of German troops in southern Afghanistan.
Gates’ eight-page letter demanded 3,200 German soldiers, including combat forces, helicopters and parachutists, to replace US counter-insurgency soldiers later this year to fight Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.
Berlin has repeatedly rejected calls by Washington to send soldiers to southern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung dismissed Saturday evening news reports about plans for widening the German military mission in Afghanistan.
“There is a clear mandate for up to 3,500 German soldiers in Afghanistan,” said the minister, adding there were ‘no plans for changing the mandate’.
The German media reported that Germany agreed to boost its troop size from 3,500 to 4,500 and expand its zone of deployment westward.