NATO to Expand Iraq Troop Training

NATO agreed Thursday under strong U.S. pressure to expand its military training efforts in Iraq, but some members reaffirmed their refusal to participate in the mission.

The alliance agreed to dispatch an additional 240 instructors for command-level Iraqi officers as soon as possible, and it committed to establishing a military academy outside of Baghdad.

The divisions over the controversial mission reflect the ill feelings in much of Europe over the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq last year. Although diplomats from both sides of the Atlantic agreed that tensions over Iraq had eased in recent months at NATO headquarters, public sentiment in Europe against the war discouraged some member governments from taking part in the training effort.

The U.S. also received no new troop commitment from allies to boost the approximately 9,000-member NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. However, American officials attending the meeting here of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers said European members supported the expansion in principle and would probably contribute additional forces by spring.

“I come away encouraged that a number of the nations are going to be looking at what they can do,” Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told reporters at a news conference after the meeting.

The alliance foreign ministers agreed Thursday to enlarge the program already underway at the Defense Ministry in Baghdad to help train command-level officers for Iraq’s security forces.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the 60-member alliance contingent in the Iraqi capital would grow to 300 “as soon as possible.”

He said Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands were among the member countries that agreed to send new staff to Baghdad.

The alliance also agreed to set up and operate a military academy just east of Baghdad. That program would require as many as 1,200 NATO support and training staff, and there were no specific pledges from members Thursday.

The refusal of six member countries to permit military personnel already assigned to NATO’s international command staff to join the senior officer training mission in Iraq was viewed with concern by many alliance leaders. NATO officials identified the six nations as France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Belgium and Greece.

“We have not changed our mind, we will send no troops to Iraq,” German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said at a news conference.

Powell and De Hoop Scheffer expressed concern about the consequences for NATO’s ability to stay together militarily once its members have forged a political agreement on an issue.

“You are hurting the credibility and the cohesion of such an international staff or organization,” Powell said. “We think it’s a problem, and we had a pretty good discussion of it.”

De Hoop Scheffer added, “Once allies agree to an operation [politically], they should participate.”

On Afghanistan, alliance members reconfirmed a commitment to extend their military presence from the northern parts of the country into the western provinces of Herat and Farah and increase troop levels.

Although NATO forces in the country number about half of the 18,000-strong American-led force deployed there, the presence of alliance troops has helped ease the pressures on a U.S. military straining to meet its global commitments.

Those who follow NATO affairs said the reluctance of alliance members to send additional troops to Afghanistan appeared to be a practical, rather than political, issue.

“Who’s got the troops?” asked Frederick Bonnart, a Brussels-based military analyst. British forces are already in Iraq and Afghanistan, while France, Germany and Canada are the largest contributors to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan. A variety of smaller European countries contribute to peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“We are having trouble filling western Afghanistan,” said a senior NATO official who declined to be identified. “There are many countries discussing it, Italy being one of them.”