Nato not in rush for Afghan exit

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that NATO would help prevent Afghanistan from once more becoming the main hub of international terrorism as he took the helm of the military alliance.
On his first day at work, the ex-Danish premier said that while the alliance wanted to ultimately transfer security responsibility to the Afghan government, there could be no question of the alliance rushing for the exit door.
Speaking to reporters, the new secretary-general said that troops serving in what is NATOs biggest ever mission would help prevent Afghanistan from becoming again a grand central station of international terrorism.
Rasmussen said the long-term goal was to move forward concretely and visibly with transferring lead security responsibility in Afghanistan to the Afghans.
I believe during my term Afghans must take over lead responsibility for security in most of their country, he added. But any suggestion that such a strategy amounted to cut and run was pure propaganda, he added.
Let me be clear. NATO must and will be there in support. Let no Taliban propaganda try to sell my message as a run for exit. It is not, he said. We will support Afghan people as long as its takes, he added. In a weekend newspaper interview, the 56-year-old said that he would support dialogue with moderates within the Taliban.
Rasmussens comments about engaging with moderates echoed recent statements by the foreign ministers of France and Britain who have argued that it is time to engage with Taliban willing to renounce violence.
The new secretary-general, who is succeeding Dutch diplomat Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, will also have to help rekindle icy ties with Russia, still seething that a Cold War foe is closing in on its borders, and ensure that thousands of NATO troops are eased out of Kosovo without re-igniting the ethnic tinderbox.
Rasmussen said while disagreements remained with Russia, they should not be allowed to poison ties and there were many areas of common interest.
I believe that during my term, we should develop a true strategic partnership. We should enhance practical cooperation in areas where we share security interests, he added, citing Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, piracy, and nuclear non-proliferation.
He said he regarded it as a very important challenge to convince the Russian people and the Russian political leadership that NATO is really not an enemy of Russia, that NATO is not directed against Russia.
Rasmussen said that the war in Georgia had had a very negative impact and that real differences remained over the issue. But we cannot let our areas of dispute poison the whole relationship, he added.
A deft hand will also be required to breathe new life into the NATO-Russia Council, the forum where Moscow and the alliance cooperate and air their many differences, amid deep tensions over the war in Georgia a year ago.
On the diplomatic side, Rasmussen has to earn the trust of the Muslim world after Turkey initially objected to his candidacy following the publication of the blasphemous cartoons in the Danish press.
Ankara will insist he make good on a pledge to develop a dialogue with the Muslim world during his four-year tenure as NATOs top civilian official.