THE LEADERS of Nato have moved to settle their divisions with Russia over the Georgian conflict in 2008 and resolved to begin a phased withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan next July.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev met US president Barack Obama and other Nato leaders at their summit in Lisbon as the western alliance and its old foe took steps to make a fresh start in their strained relationship.
Although they agreed to jointly examine how Russia might participate in a new missile defence system in Europe, Mr Medvedev insisted his country must be treated as an equal partner if it is to take part.
The new Nato system was agreed on Friday. It will link existing European anti-missile systems to radars and interceptors which the US is deploying in the Mediterranean, Romania, Poland and possibly Turkey.
Nato said its new system would be separate to Russian systems but it believes Russian participation would provide a wider picture of the skies over Europe.
Mr Medvedev wants a full exchange of information and a prime role in the development of the joint system. He also warned of “unpleasant” consequences if the US does not ratify the Start nuclear arms reduction pact which has met with Republican resistance in the US Congress.
Mr Obama said Russia was a “partner, not an adversary” as he blamed the delay on “partisan” Washington politics and said the pact was crucial because it allowed for the verification of arms reduction on the Russian side.
Mr Medvedev, who took to Nato’s press podium moments after Mr Obama finished answering reporters’ questions, said Russia will act in a “symmetrical” way to the US.
But the atmosphere was mainly positive as a succession of Nato leaders portrayed Mr Medvedev’s presence at the summit as evidence that both sides were eradicating their historical enmity.
Although Russia’s military intervention in Georgia renewed tension in the relationship, the episode now seems to be behind them. “A former military adversary is now clearly a partner,” said German chancellor Angela Merkel. As Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke of exorcising “the ghosts of the past”, Mr Medvedev said “a period of very difficult tense relations has been overcome”.
Russia has also agreed to a greater use of overland routes through Russia for supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan, lessening the allies’ reliance on dangerous routes through Pakistan.
With Mr Obama and other Nato leaders face mounting public impatience with the nine-year military campaign, the western powers affirmed plans to complete the handover of security to the Afghan authorities by the end of 2014.
Mr Rasmussen made it clear that this deadline, highly ambitious given the force of a resurgent Taliban, is subject to conditions in Afghanistan at that time. Many thousands of Nato troops will stay on in Afghanistan in a support role.
Violence has worsened this year as the US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) confronts an emboldened Taliban but Nato insists its intensification of the campaign is yielding dividends. Even as they stressed their determination to halt the major combat campaign by 2015, allied leaders said that military operations would continue beyond that date in volatile areas.
“I don’t foresee Isaf troops in a combat role beyond 2014, provided of course that the security situation allows us to move into a more supportive role,” Mr Fogh-Rasmussen told reporters.
“This process must be condition-based, not calendar-driven.” As Mr Obama affirmed the goal of ensuring Afghans were “in the lead” by 2014, he insisted on the right of American troops to deploy lethal force in airstrikes and “night raids”. In a Washington Post interview last week, Mr Karzai said such attacks were excessive, but Mr Obama said the Afghan leader should pay attention to American concerns and its multibillion-dollar commitment to the country.
Saying he recognised Mr Karzai’s legitimate concern about civilian deaths, Mr Obama said his administration had to look to protection of young soldiers “from small towns and big cities all across America” who are “in a foreign country being shot at”.
While Mr Obama aims to ensure American soldiers are “not still engaged in combat operations of the sort we are now”, he said counter-terrorism forces will remain in the country long after the withdrawal of regular troops.
“It’s going to be pretty important to us to continue to have platforms to execute those counter terrorism operations in Afghanistan.” By contrast, British prime minister David Cameron insisted the combat role of British troops will have ceased by 2015. “Nato has itself set a timeline up to 2014, by which time transition will be complete and Afghan forces will be in complete control,” he said.
