Finland to NATO meeting without promise of greater Afghan force commitment

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Finland has not prepared any decisions on additional forces for Afghanistan, said Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) before attending the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Friday.
      “Finland functions within the framework of present decisions, and is holding calm discussions”, Stubb said.
      Finland nevertheless plans to fulfil its previous promises of sending forces to Afghanistan.
     
On Friday morning Stubb attended a meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states, as well as those of other countries, such as Finland, which contribute forces to the ISAF effort in Afghanistan. The topic of the meeting was the deployment of additional forces and trainers to that country.
      “A total of 25 countries have promised to send more forces to Afghanistan”, said NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
      Speaking after the meeting of participating countries, Rasmussen gave assurances that international forces are not pulling out of Afghanistan, and that they are seeking to pass responsibility on to Afghanistan itself to the extent that it is possible.
      “This is no rush to the exits”, Rasmussen said.
      The United States and other countries are sending nearly 40,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan. About 140,000 soldiers should be in Afghanistan within six months.
     
At the meeting Stubb had the opportunity to say that Finland will boost its commitment to Afghanistan when previous decisions on deploying trainers there are implemented.
      Finland currently has 120 soldiers in Afghanistan. Under existing decisions by the foreign policy leadership, this could rise to 145. Finland could also increase its participation in the EU’s police training operation in Afghanistan.
     
Improving relations between Russia and NATO is expected to be a major focus of the meeting, alongside the Afghanistan plans. New agreements on cooperation and assessment of threats are expected at a meeting of the NATO Russia Council in the afternoon.
      The meeting is the first time that the NRC convenes officially at the foreign minister level since the brief war between Russia and Georgia in August last year.
     
Before the meeting Stubb said that the roles of NATO and the EU are becoming increasingly important in dealing with Russia’s relations with the West. Earlier in the week, discussions were held on Russian-Western relations with meagre results at a meeting of the Organisation on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Athens.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Government ponders Afghanistan confusion (28.10.2009)

See also:
  Defence Minister Häkämies lashes out at President over hiding NATO letter (4.12.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat