NATO agrees on new 'spearhead' force to meet global threats

NATO agrees on new 'spearhead' force to meet global threats

cnn

By Laura Smith-Spark, Jethro Mullen and Nic Robertson, CNN

September 5, 2014 

Newport, Wales (CNN) -- NATO members agreed Friday to form a "spearhead" force of several thousand land troops ready to deploy within a few days, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday at a summit in Newport, Wales.

The troops would be backed by air, sea and special forces, he said, with a command and control center and extra resources in eastern Europe.

"This decision sends a clear message: NATO protects all allies at all times," he said.

"And it sends a clear message to any potential aggressor: Should you even think of attacking one ally, you will be facing the whole alliance."

The new readiness action plan is intended to help NATO respond to Russian aggression and other international conflicts.

Rasmussen also said NATO stands ready to help Iraq in its fight against Islamist extremists if it asks for assistance.

Responses to threats posed by Russia's interference in Ukraine and the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq were at the heart of discussions Thursday on the first day of the trans-Atlantic alliance's summit meeting in Wales.

Russia's annexation of Crimea and involvement in the unrest in eastern Ukraine have alarmed NATO members in the region, like Poland and the Baltic states.

A rapid-reaction force would give those nations more security amid Moscow's deteriorating relationship with the West. U.S. officials have stressed that any force would be defensive in posture and not a provocation to Russia.

'Ready, able and willing'

In remarks earlier Friday, Prime Minister David Cameron said he hoped the alliance would agree to "a multinational spearhead force able to deploy anywhere in the world in just two to five days."

This would be part of a reformed NATO response force with its headquarters in Poland, forward units in allied countries in eastern Europe and pre-positioned equipment and infrastructure, he said.

"If we can agree this, the United Kingdom would contribute 3,500 personnel," he said.

Cameron also called for the 28 members of the alliance to reinforce their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense and a fifth of that amount on equipment.

Rasmussen said member states "must ensure that NATO remains ready, able and willing to defend all allies against any threat."

"Today we will ensure that we have the right forces and equipment in the right place for as long as required and commit to reverse the decline of defense budgets," Rasmussen said Friday.

Edward Lucas, a senior editor at The Economist in London, said it's important to get a rapid-reaction force "that is pre-authorized, a bit like a pre-authorized credit card, so that if there is a crisis, it can be deployed very quickly by NATO military commanders."

Otherwise, activation of the force could get bogged down in political discussions, "which could go on for days or more and could lead to Russia getting facts on the ground in the Baltic States, which could be very dangerous and difficult to reverse," Lucas told CNN.

The recent revival of a Russian threat in eastern Europe has upended some of the assumptions that had underpinned NATO's earlier expansion in the region.

"This is the first time since the end of World War II that one European country has tried to grab another's territory by force," Rasmussen said Thursday. "Europe must not turn away from the rule of law to the rule of strongest."

Cameron also leveled sharp words at Russia, accusing it of "trampling illegally over Ukraine."

"Russia is ripping up the rulebook with its annexation of Crimea and its troops on Ukrainian soil," Cameron said.

The NATO summit coincides with talks in Belarus on Friday that may result in the agreement of a peace deal between Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russia rebels.

NATO says the rebels are armed and trained by Russia and are supported by Russian troops on Ukrainian soil. But Moscow denies those claims.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed "careful optimism" Thursday about a possible ceasefire with the rebels.

Rebel leaders in Ukraine's self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk republics say they will order a ceasefire Friday if Ukraine signs "a plan for a political settlement."

Russia 'has bullied its neighbors'

Lucas pointed out that when NATO first brought eastern European countries like Poland and Hungary into its fold in the late 1990s, it decided to regard Russia as a friend rather than a threat, forgoing plans to defend the new member states.

"The whole idea was that NATO would be in partnership with Russia to deal with other security issues," he said. "That's changed because Russia didn't like that arrangement. Russia has bullied its neighbors."

NATO leaders are also expected to tackle the issue of how to respond to ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The United States, which has been carrying out airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, is pushing to form a coalition against the Sunni extremist group.

President Barack Obama is set to meet Friday with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country borders areas of Syria under ISIS control.