US President Barack Obama has recently announced a major troop buildup in Afghanistan and other NATO members will likewise be supplying more troops. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke with SPIEGEL about the 'warlike' conditions in Afghanistan, how long NATO will stay and whether Russia might come to the alliance's aid. SPIEGEL: Mr. Secretary General, the NATO mission in Afghanistan has not been going well in the last few years. Now US President Barack Obama has announced a new strategy. He is deploying 30,000 additional troops and is calling on allies to make additional sacrifices. Does this signify a new beginning? Rasmussen: No. We aren't starting at zero. I would call it a new approach, a supplement to our mission thus far. We are currently beefing up our efforts on all levels.
US President Barack Obama has recently announced a major troop buildup in Afghanistan and other NATO members will likewise be supplying more troops. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke with SPIEGEL about the 'warlike' conditions in Afghanistan, how long NATO will stay and whether Russia might come to the alliance's aid.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Secretary General, the NATO mission in Afghanistan has not been going well in the last few years. Now US President Barack Obama has announced a new strategy. He is deploying 30,000 additional troops and is calling on allies to make additional sacrifices. Does this signify a new beginning?
Rasmussen: No. We aren't starting at zero. I would call it a new approach, a supplement to our mission thus far. We are currently beefing up our efforts on all levels.
German defense minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has advocated talks with what he called 'moderate' Taliban in an effort to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan. In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Guttenberg proposed opening up channels for dialog with certain Taliban groups, but warned of the pitfalls of such a strategy. Describing his definition of 'moderate' Taliban, Guttenberg said "there were differences between the groups in Afghanistan, with some, which radically oppose anything western and whose goal it is to fight our culture, and those which are simply immersed in their own, local culture." The defense minister said that he believed "cutting off every form of communication was no longer valid on the whole, although there must be criteria."
In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Guttenberg proposed opening up channels for dialog with certain Taliban groups, but warned of the pitfalls of such a strategy.
Describing his definition of 'moderate' Taliban, Guttenberg said "there were differences between the groups in Afghanistan, with some, which radically oppose anything western and whose goal it is to fight our culture, and those which are simply immersed in their own, local culture."
The defense minister said that he believed "cutting off every form of communication was no longer valid on the whole, although there must be criteria."
