Briefing en Route Oslo, Norway

I think the military commanders have said that they believe that things are going well on the ground for NATO, but there's obviously a great deal more work to do. And one of the opportunities I will have is to meet with the Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, and of course Canada has taken a number of casualties in this war and I'll want to say to him how much the sacrifice of the Canadian people is appreciated, and I'm sure that his NATO colleagues will want to say the same.

We will also have, I think, extended discussions about Kosovo. It is -- the Ahtisaari plan has now been -- has been presented to the Security Council and it won't be long before it's time for a Security Council resolution. So I think we'll want to have a discussion of Kosovo. Probably at the transatlantic dinner they will discuss that, but I will have a chance to talk about it before I leave.

And then, finally, missile defense. We will also have a NATO-Russia Council. I should note on missile defense there was a very good discussion in NATO that John Rood led. I think it was well-received about U.S. plans for missile defense, about the extensive consultations that we've been engaged in, about the offers to the Russians for missile defense cooperation. And we're going to continue those discussions. Bob Gates, of course, has just been in Russia discussing this with our Russian counterparts. He was also in Germany. And I think there is growing understanding of the importance of meeting future threats through defensive means like missile defense, so I expect that to be an extended conversation as well. And I will have a short bilateral with Minister Lavrov on the margins of the NATO-Russia meeting.

So that's the agenda: Afghanistan, missile defense and Kosovo. I should just mention on Afghanistan there was just recently a visit by permanent representatives of NATO to Afghanistan that I think was a quite successful visit. I was talking with -- or the President was talking with General McNeil and Ambassador Wood about that just a couple of days ago, and so I think NATO has had a lot of exposure to what's going on in Afghanistan and it'll give us a chance to talk further about it.

QUESTION: On missile defense, can you give us -- even though at an official level it seems as if the Europeans seem to be getting a little more comfortable with the idea, on the sort of popular level, on the popular level, I've seen a couple of polls lately showing that something like two-thirds of the Czech Republic opposes it. In one poll, a majority of Poles oppose us having the interceptors in Poland. Can you give us a feel for how you may try to address the more popular concerns as opposed to the official, and also on Russia, what you plan to say to try to assuage Russian anxieties about it?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, on Russia we are going to continue to have discussions about it. And I know that Bob Gates talked to them about not just the initial deployment of the interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic, but to the degree that they might have any concerns about what a follow-on system might look like, the so-called breakout potential that we're prepared to talk to them about that, too, because this is against a very limited threat. That's what it's intended to be. I do think we have to demystify some of the things that are being said about it. It's simply not possible that this could be considered a system that could in any way threaten the Russian strategic deterrent. It's just not capable of doing so, and so we're going to have to talk about the facts as well as talk about people's perceptions of the system.

As to the public mood about it, I think now that there's a better understanding at official levels and perhaps more of an effort to talk about what it really is that we intend, when people understand in these countries that we're talking about the defense of Europe and the defense of the United States against rogue threats, I think you'll start to see that people want to be defended. Why would you leave yourself defenseless to an Iranian or a North Korean missile? It simply doesn't make sense. If you could defend your territory and your population against that threat, I would think you would want to do it.

QUESTION: But why is it -- or what is your read on why the Russians just won't take it? You've been telling them that this is not a threat to them for years, more than you care to imagine, and they don't seem to buy it and their rhetoric becomes -- is getting stronger?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I'm not sure that their rhetoric is getting stronger and we'll see. They -- we have offered them defense cooperation. I don't know why you would not want to engage in missile defense cooperation that gives you the possibility of protecting your people and your territory against missile threats from states that may not be deterrable. And so I -- we'll continue to talk to the Russians about it. To the degree that they have concerns, we'll continue to try to address them and we've been doing this now for several months. It's also going to be quite a long time until this is actually operational. And one reason you have to start now is the threats will emerge; you'd like the defenses to emerge in time to actually deal with the threats.

So I think there's a lot of suspicion out of the period of the Cold War. There probably is still a bit of a perspective from the Cold War when the nature of the strategic relationship was one in which some believe that defenses could be a part of a first strike, second strike capability and perhaps that's still in people's minds. But that's not what this is and we are not Russia's adversary any longer. We shouldn't be assuming that the only way to secure ourselves is to be defenseless against missile technology. But I understood this probably one time in my life as well as anybody that this was how strategic stability was said to be secured. You kept -- left yourself vulnerable so you couldn't use the first strike. Well, that's not the kind of system or the strategic environment today. But perhaps there are echoes of that hang -- a bit of a hangover and we've got to get past it and look as the world as it is not as the world as it was.

QUESTION: Concerning Afghanistan, you said that things are going reasonable well on the ground now and everyone was talking about this spring offensive. Now are there signs that the spring offensive, in fact, is not what it was feared to be -- first question.

Second one is can you talk a bit more about the forces that are still needed? I think there's some talk about not so much combat but training forces that you're seeking from other allies.

SECRETARY RICE: Yes. On the spring offensive, I don't think we know yet where this is all going to lead. Obviously, there has been a lot of military activity but I think NATO has been very well prepared to answer the Taliban's efforts and we'll see how this unfolds. There is concern, of course, that the -- we need to stay vigilant and we need to stay on the offense ourselves. Because if you're caught at all on your back foot, which frankly, I think, we were a little bit last year, I think the better preparation this year has paid off. But we're by no means through the entire period that one would be concerned about this. And so I think it's probably not wise to make any declarations about how we're doing just yet.

In terms of forces that might be needed, I know that General McNeil and General Craddock have been working with their counterparts on this. It is true that trainers would be, I think, particularly helpful and I'll talk over the next several weeks to specific countries about whether we can increase the number of trainers. But this is not something that we expect is to happen in the very near term, but we need to address that need.

QUESTION: Do you have any numbers in terms of trainers?

SECRETARY RICE: No. We need to identify some candidates first and then have the military sit down to work out details.

QUESTION: 3,400 was the number that came up.

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah, it's a number that's there, but I think it's going to be a balance of how many trainers can be provided, also as a part of the U.S. contingent and what else is needed. And so the defense establishments will be working out those numbers. But yeah, 3,400 has been a number. I just wouldn't -- I wouldn't fix on that figure or number.

QUESTION: How about on caveats? Do you plan to review the request on caveats?

SECRETARY RICE: We will continue to talk about caveats. Some of them have been at the very least lessened. People have been operating in a freer way, but I think, yeah, we need to continue to worry about caveats. It's -- the military commanders need to be able to use the forces in the way that is most effective for the military mission and to have fewer constraints.

QUESTION: How about a non -- I don't know -- has anything happened with Congressman Waxman and his subpoena? You're not keeping track by the second? So you're not that scared about it?

QUESTION: (Inaudible) something on Iran. Will Iran come up in your discussions with Mr. Lavrov -- Iran? Will Iran come up? And is -- do you have any plans to meet with Mr. Solana? There's some talk about him coming to Oslo after the talks in Oslo.

SECRETARY RICE: I believe I'll have a chance to see Javier on the margins of the transatlantic dinner, but obviously I'm there for a very short period of time. I hope our paths are going to cross -- I think we will -- and perhaps get a readout on how things went.

But every time we -- any of us meet and we have a chance to talk about Iran, you can be sure of that. But I think we and the Russians have worked pretty effectively together, particularly on this last resolution to get it passed, to get it passed in very quick order And so I'm expecting that I will go to Moscow pretty soon and I -- when I go to Moscow, we'll have more extended time to talk about all of these issues. So the bilateral with Foreign Minister Lavrov is very brief tonight because he can't arrive until late and I have to leave fairly early, so --

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY RICE: He was always -- no, he had other -- he was always going to arrive fairly late.

QUESTION: Not counting the Waxman question -- (laughter) -- a little bit more about Kosovo and Russian and Serb concerns on how they can be addressed.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, the Ahtisaari report was balanced and it tried to take account of everyone's concerns. I think we've all known for a long time that the current situation is not sustainable and we fully support the report and its implications. When it comes to the Security Council resolution, we want to work with Russia and indeed with the Serbs to make certain, for instance, that everybody understands that Kosovo is sui generis, that this is not a precedent for any other circumstances in which there might be a claim of independence. This comes out of a very particular set of conditions out of the Balkan war.

I think we can certainly look to make certain that there is very strong language about the protection of minorities, the protection of religious sites and the time of international supervision, if you will, to make sure that that is used well so that all interests can be protected. But we can't afford to delay going forward because the current -- the status quo isn't going to be sustainable.

We've talked a great deal to the Kosovar government as well about their responsibilities and to make sure that they exercise their responsibilities on the issues that I raised, and I think they will. We also believe very strongly that Serbia has a very good future in Europe. We signaled this with the Partnership for Peace, going ahead and starting the Partnership for Peace program. I know that the Europeans want Serbia to have a European future. We need their cooperation with the International Tribunal -- with ICTY. But one of the goals here is to have a Serbia that can be fully integrated in Europe, and once Kosovo is finalized that's going to have to be the goal.

QUESTION: Can I get a follow-up on Afghanistan? Commander General Jones issued his appeal last -- I think it was September. Just -- I should know this, but I don't. Was that fully subscribed to or not?

SECRETARY RICE: Let me get you the number of troops. It is -- we had -- I'm going to remember the number incorrectly, but there was a significant response to General Jones both on the military side and to our -- what we asked on the civilian side. So let me get you the actual numbers.

QUESTION: Thank you very much.