Rasmussen to AT “NATO ministers debate Libya War”

NATO conference in Brussels   Secretary General of NATO, Rasmussen, said in exclusive remarks to " Arabstoday,” that the NATO Defense Ministers focused in the first day of their meeting, which started on Wednesday afternoon, on the Libyan experience, to learn the gaps discovered during the war, such as the lack of the intellegence information on the ground, and to provide fighter aircraft, which was resolved after the intervention of an AWACS aircraft sent by the United States for this purpose.
Rasmussen said to “Arabs today," "we asked the senior officers of the alliance to prepare reports for this issue, one of which was the focus of our discussions, on Wednesday,” he also explained that the report "revealed the need to develop our potential through the creation of a partnership between the allies in order to reduce the cost of development and cooperate to withstand the expenses ".
He pointed out that there is political consensus between the countries concerned on this matter and "we seek to make this cooperation a reality." He revealed that his mission now is "how to prepare for the summit in Chicago," which will be convened by the NATO leaders in May next year.
In response to a question by "Arabs today," about the surprise caused by what has become known as the "Arab spring" of the Arab countries leaders, Rasmussen said that "there are attempts to form a new dynamic to our partnership with North Africa and the Middle East countries," asserting that this will be "themes that will be discussed in Chicago, in addition to prepare what could be faced with surprises in the future and prepare to deal with it."
Rasmussen promised to help the new government in Libya, and also revealed that stopping the NATO operations in Libya "does not depend on arresting Gaddafi, in addition to that it is not the target of our operations."
Fogh Rasmussen, announced on Wednesday afternoon during the opening of the NATO conference in Brussels, that the NATO operations launched in Libya were successful, as they saved the lives of many Libyans and helped them to eliminate Al-Gadaffi’s regime to obtain their own freedom.
"In Libya we and our allies have been remarkably successful — we have saved countless lives and helped the Libyan people take their destiny into their own hands," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.
Rasmussen said at the conference, attended by ministers and a number of countries, that NATO will keep its operations under review and said that he is looking forward to stop the military operations in Libya.
He also said that they have started to hand over security to the Afghans, and emphasized that he would not allow Taliban, led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, to abstract the operation, saying that NATO will continue to cooperate with ISAF for the success of the strategic partnership on the long term and to end their mission in 2014.
"In Afghanistan ... transition is on track and the insurgents will not be allowed to derail it," he said at the opening of a meeting of defense ministers.
The meetings which aim to discuss the tasks that the Alliance now and future potential will continue till tomorrow.
The Secretary General of NATO, Fogh Rasmussen emphasized that the NATO countries fulfilled their commitments towards the Libyan people and that "NATO is about to end the mission successfully in this area."
It was clear in the meeting that the situation in Afghanistan and the NATO tasks will return to be the top priority. The campaign also revealed deep rifts within the Western military alliance. Only eight of the 28 members participated, while the others stayed away — mostly for fear of how the new mission would affect the alliance’s commitment to Afghanistan.
Before stepping down as Pentagon chief, Gates bluntly criticized NATO for what he said were shortages in military spending and political will, warning of “a dim if not dismal future” for the alliance unless European members boosted their participation.
But diplomats said Panetta was not expected to continue with such a confrontational attitude.
In Afghanistan, NATO’s troops and the government’s security forces are still struggling against Taleban insurgents, whom they outnumber by about 15 to 1. Some 130,000 NATO troops are currently fighting in Afghanistan; more than 2,700 NATO troops have died in the war.
High-profile Taleban attacks this year have undermined NATO’s claim that it has the upper hand, and the United Nations released a report last month saying the monthly level of violence in the country was significantly higher than in 2010.
The US and NATO began transferring security responsibilities this year to newly trained Afghan forces with the goal of withdrawing all their combat troops by the end of 2014.
NATO Officials told  "the Arabs today’ that Taliban has succeeded through a number of attacks to grab  the  media attention , but the their attacks in different areas had decreased by 80 percent than what it was last year.
NATO generals’  effort in the next phase will focus on strengthening the capacity of Afghan forces to  reduce the amount of  attacks by the Taliban, before the deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country at the end of 2014.
Also keen to reassure to people in Afghanistan that even after they leave, they will stay with them through various means, and a true partnership.
The commander of international forces in Afghanistan, John Allen, confirmed in remarks made on Monday that part of the U.S. troops will remain in this country until after 2014; despite the agreements signed between Kabul and Washington which included the withdrawal of American forces.
That the issue of the troops number, who will remain in Afghanistan and their legal status should be solved in the framework of a new agreement with Kabul. He said that that those American troops who will stay in Afghanistan could work in the country as military advisers, or form a special task force to fight terrorism.
The U.S. and NATO began transferring security responsibilities this year to newly trained Afghan forces with the goal of withdrawing all their combat troops by the end of 2014.
Apart from Libya and Afghanistan, the two-day NATO meeting will include the situation in Kosovo, where intercommoned clashes continue nearly 12 years after an alliance bombing campaign ended Serbia's rule there, and naval patrols off Somalia, stretching into a third year after a three-month authorization period in 2008.