PanARMENIAN.Net
Afghanistan reconciles NATO with Russia
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
Russia has offered to transit through her territory civil goods to the
military forces under NATO supervision in Afghanistan, which is
becoming extremely important with the situation being awfully unstable
on the supply routes passing through Pakistan.
05.03.2009 GMT+04:00
The NATO FM summit in Brussels ended with recommencement of relations
between NATO and the RF, which was quite expected. NATO’s operation in
Afghanistan would be destined to a final collapse without Moscow, or,
to be more exact, without transit of goods through the RF. Seeking to
reassure the newer members of NATO, such as the former Soviet Republic
of Lithuania, that the move was not "a bit premature", U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton called for a fresh start in bilateral
relations between Russia and the military alliance. "We can and must
find ways to work constructively with Russia where we share areas of
common interest, including helping the people of Afghanistan," she
said.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The United States and its allies must find ways to
manage differences with Russia but stand up for its principles when
security or other interests are at stake. NATO should never recognize
the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We should continue to
open NATO’s door to European countries such as Georgia and Ukraine and
help them meet NATO standards," declared U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton.
In his turn, Russia’s Envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin noted in Brussels
that "for 99 per cent there will be taken a decision in favour of
Russia. In the person of Russia the West sees a partner on which she
cannot wipe her feet," he said. Rogozin believes that both sides have
grown stronger after the crisis following the August war. The crisis
has done everyone good."
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer spoke for the
normalization of bilateral relations too. Before the summit Scheffer
announced that relations between Russia and NATO have improved enough
to reestablish official contacts. "We have obvious common interests
with Russia: Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, the fight against
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and others," he said. He
also expressed hope that next meeting between Russia and NATO would
take place in the near future.
The Russia-NATO relations broke off after the August war between
Georgia and South Ossetia. However, the Alliance calculated that
pleasing Mikhail Saakashvili in his exorbitant ambitions had a
negative impact on the highly arduous mission in Afghanistan, so there
was made a decision to sacrifice Georgia, especially since the August
war was mainly the fault of the Georgian President. It’s quite another
matter that Russia perhaps overused force, but it should not be
forgotten that «great powers» always overdo everything. In the 80s
the USA sent divisions of marines to the tiny State of Grenada, but
everyone in the USA has already all forgotten about it. In the same
way everyone will forget about the «compulsion to peace». Presently
NATO has to solve most important problems concerning provision of
contingent in Kabul. And if we also take into account that the air
base `Manas’ may really be closed by the end of the current year,
Russian transit becomes necessary as the breath of life.
Russia has offered to transit through her territory civil goods to the
military forces under NATO supervision in Afghanistan, which is
becoming extremely important with the situation being awfully unstable
on the supply routes passing through Pakistan.
As for Ukraine and Georgia’s membership in the alliance, in the words
of ex-President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, cooperation with NATO will
be favourable both for the Ukraine and for Georgia, however the talks
on these countries’ accession to the Alliance have no future. `My
position concerning this issue is unchanged ` I stand for active
cooperation with the Alliance. But Kiev had better give up this idea
now. It is quite obvious and natural that after the latest occurrences
in the Caucasus, NATO treats Ukraine and Georgia differently,’ noted
Kuchma. He also advised Tbilisi not to use the August events in
seeking intimacy with NATO.