Bush’s NATO message signals concern on Afghanistan front

President Bush has long called the defeat of the Taliban a triumph of freedom over tyranny. But on Tuesday he tacitly acknowledged that not all is well in Afghanistan, four years after the U.S.-led invasion, and he exhorted allies to step up their cooperation or risk failure there.

Bush spoke on the first day of a summit among the 26 member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which now oversees about 30,000 allied troops in Afghanistan.

Some European nations have been reluctant to commit troops to the more dangerous southern regions of the country, where NATO faces a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

“For NATO to succeed, its commanders on the ground must have the resources and flexibility they need to do their jobs,” Bush said during a speech at a university here in the Latvian capital. “Today Afghanistan is NATO’s most important military operation, and by standing together in Afghanistan, we’ll protect our people, defend our freedom, and send a clear message to the extremists the forces of freedom and decency will prevail.”

Earlier in the day, in neighboring Estonia, Bush said NATO members “must accept difficult assignments if we expect to be successful.”

Bush’s comments, and the skittishness among allies in the face of an increasingly deadly Taliban insurgency, illustrate the troubles facing the president as he tries to build global support for his agenda, in Afghanistan and across the Middle East.

It served as a reminder that, although Iraq dominates the world headlines and shaped the debate in the U.S. midterm election, the war that was once considered a slam-dunk success is now very much in doubt.

Some of the early discussions Tuesday focused on Germany, which has troops in the safer, northern part of Afghanistan and has resisted sending troops to face combat in the south.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated those concerns during an appearance on Germany’s N24 television, though she appeared to give some ground by pledging to do what she could to ensure NATO success.

“In emergencies we can help out in the south,” she said. “But our place is in the north, where 40% of Afghanistan’s population lives.”

A NATO spokesman, referring to negotiations between Merkel and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said Merkel’s comments on emergency situations reflected a “meeting of the minds on the role of German forces in Afghanistan.” The spokesman said that negotiations were ongoing but that the progress with Germany and other countries would lead to some improvement in the use of troops.

Officials are also taking a closer look at how violence has erupted anew in Afghanistan.

The White House said Tuesday that the insurgency had grown in the south largely because of an absence of government institutions outside of the capital, Kabul. Stephen Hadley, Bush’s national security advisor, said the Taliban had “clearly exploited the absence of those institutions to begin burrowing into the south and mounting its attacks on coalition and Afghan forces.”

NATO’s supreme allied commander, U.S. Marine Gen. James L. Jones, told reporters that it was a mistake to blame all of the country’s troubles on the Taliban, listing drug traffickers, common criminals and tribal warriors as additional culprits.

Although the bulk of Bush’s four-day trip is focused on a seemingly uphill struggle in the Middle East, the president appeared to relish his brief time in a corner of the world where the U.S. remains popular.

In Estonia and Latvia, he was greeted with applause and welcomed by both countries’ presidents as a friend. Citizens of the former Soviet republics credit the U.S. with helping them win independence.

It is no coincidence that NATO, an organization created as a counterweight to the Soviet Union, decided to hold its summit in a Baltic state -- a symbolic choice at a time Bush and others are seeking to expand the organization to include additional former Soviet republics.

“We will also not falter in making Afghanistan more secure, where Estonian soldiers are helping to protect the welfare of Afghan citizens, again, together, hand in hand with the United States,” said Estonian President Toomas Ilves, an Ivy League-educated former English teacher who made his remarks during Bush’s visit to Tallinn, the country’s capital.

Bush did not hesitate to express his enthusiasm for some of Estonia’s more Republican-like policies, including its adoption 12 years ago of a flat income tax system. He mentioned Estonia’s system no fewer than three times.

“They’ve got a tax system here that is transparent, open and simple,” he said.

*

peter.wallsten@latimes.com

david.holley@latimes.com