Meeting of the NATO Defense Ministers

We just finished an excellent two-day meeting in Brussels with the 28 NATO Defense Ministers -- including, of course, my bosses Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The meeting focused on one expected challenge -- Afghanistan -- and one new issue, Libya.

North Atlantic Council (NAC) in Defence Ministers Session. Photo by SGC Edouard Bocquet, French Air Force

On Afghanistan, the meeting was attended by not only the 28 NATO Defense Ministers, but also their counterparts from around the world. There are 48 troop contributing nations in the coalition in Afghanistan today and all were represented at a very senior level. As an example of the "larger than NATO" group, I had a good meeting with the Honorable Stephen Smith, the Defense Minister of Australia -- they contribute more than 1,500 troops in Uruzgan Province and are doing superb work.

I briefed the Ministers as did General Dave Petraeus, who flew into Brussels en route to the US, where he will testify in front of the US Congress about our progress and challenges in Afghanistan.

Both our briefs highlighted the progress to date and the challenges ahead. In the progress category, we addressed the "silent surge" of nearly 70,000 Afghan Security Forces; there are now 270,000 Afghan police and army across the country. Operations in southern Afghanistan are conducted in a ratio of 1:1 coalition and Afghan forces. The Afghans absorb 75% of the casualties. They are showing their readiness to begin the transition process this summer.

The challenges include corruption, difficulties across regional borders (we just discovered a significant cache of Iranian projectiles in western Afghanistan), and implementing governance evenly across the country. Yet even there we see progress: Marjah, in southern Afghanistan, which just over a year ago was run by the Taliban, recently had a 75% turnout for their local elections. Schools are literally packed to capacity. And the numbers of weapons caches revealed to coalition troops by local Afghans has increased fivefold in a year -- a key counter-insurgency metric.

So both Dave and I spoke of "cautious optimism" and "progress that is fragile," but compared to where we were a year ago, I'm heartened.

NATO Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during his welcome remarks at the meeting of Defence Ministers, NAC, NATO HQ, Brussels, Belgium. Photo by SGC Edouard Bocquet, French Air Force

Libya was a complicated discussion, as all the nations realize the challenges of the situation there. NATO is conducting 24/7 surveillance with AWACS -- NATO’s eyes in the sky -- and ships under my command from the central Mediterranean, and we are preparing detailed plans for a range of options, as Secretary-General Rasmussen said after the conclusion of the conference. A United Nations Security Council mandate will be key, and whatever the Alliance does must meet the tests of need, legality, and regional support. Much will change over the next few days, as the situation is very fluid.

The Ministers also touched on everything else we are doing operationally, from piracy to air policing to plans for missile defense and new technology to relations with Russia and the situation in the Balkans.

For an Alliance passing 60 years, we sure are busy!

Adm. James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe