EU to train Afghan police to help NATO force

Brussels, Nov 14: Britain and the Netherlands urged the European Union to take responsibility for training Afghan police to help an embattled NATO peacekeeping force, but EU foreign ministers were cautious.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the 25-nation bloc was already doing a lot in Afghanistan and did not feel under pressure from the US-led military alliance, but would consider a police training mission if it could ''add value''.

The European Commission's external relations chief said a fact-finding mission would visit Kabul soon to study police and judicial training needs in detail.

The measured pace means the EU is unlikely to reach any decision before US President George W Bush and NATO leaders hold a summit in Riga on Nov 28-29, focusing on the challenge in Afghanistan.

The alliance is facing fierce resistance from Taliban fighters in its biggest and most complex military operation.

British Defence Secretary Des Browne told a meeting of EU defence ministers yesterday: ''There is scope for the EU to reinforce and reinvigorate civilian work on the rule of law in Afghanistan.'' Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot told reporters the EU was already training police in Iraq so why not in Afghanistan.

External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner defended the EU's record, saying the Commission and member states had ''over-fulfilled'' their aid pledges to Afghanistan, spending some 3.7 billion euros (4.76 billion dollar) so far.

Solana said most EU member states had troops in the NATO-led security force in Afghanistan, as well as participating in civilian reconstruction and humanitarian efforts.

French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, whose country is often resistant to US pressure for closer EU-NATO cooperation, cast doubt on the usefulness of a police mission.

''We (the EU) already have a major role in Afghanistan. What strikes me as most urgent is to ensure good coordination of the actions we are conducting there,'' she told a news conference yesterday.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has called almost daily on the EU to shoulder more of the civilian burden in Afghanistan.

EU officials reject the idea that the fate of Afghanistan hinges on a few dozen European police trainers, noting Germany, Italy and Spain were already involved in such work.

Reuters