Gates Shores Up War Allies, Urges Pressure on Iran (Update1)
February 09, 2010, 04:08 AM EST More From Businessweek

By Viola Gienger

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates returns to Washington today after a weeklong Europe tour spent shoring up coalition support for Afghanistan and calling for sustained pressure on Iran to curtail its nuclear ambitions.

During his last two stops in Rome and Paris, Gates offered praise for the contributions to the war from allies such as Italy and France. In the face of public opposition, members of the 43-nation coalition other than the U.S. almost tripled their forces in the past three years, Gates said in Paris yesterday, after France offered only 80 more military trainers for now.

The Pentagon chief pledged U.S. intelligence and technology at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in Istanbul last week to better protect troops and help prevent erosion in opinion polls during the critical next 18 months.

On Iran, Gates ducked questions on whether military action might be needed and appealed for coordinated financial sanctions, as evidence mounted that diplomacy wasn’t working.

“We must still try and find a peaceful way to resolve this issue,” Gates said in Paris, where he met with the defense and foreign ministers and President Nicolas Sarkozy. “The only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track.”

Gates’s mission aimed to follow through on President Barack Obama’s promise to work more with allies and partners on common issues while expecting more responsibility on their part for major priorities such as Iran and Afghanistan.

Security Council

The U.S. and France are among United Nations Security Council members pressing for another round of sanctions against Iran.

Gates believes agreement on more sanctions should take “a matter of weeks, not months,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters traveling back to Washington with Gates. “He clearly thinks time is of the essence,” Morrell said, citing comments Gates made in an interview last night on Fox News.

On Afghanistan, Obama’s decision to add 30,000 American troops to reverse Taliban gains was met with promises of more than 9,000 additions from others in the NATO-led coalition.

France has increased its contingent in the war theater in the past year to about 3,750 troops.

Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said in a joint media briefing with Gates in Rome that his country is preparing to send 120 of its paramilitary Carabinieri to Afghanistan in addition to the 1,000 troops pledged since December, to help train Afghan police.

Italy already has more than 3,100 troops in Afghanistan and heads the regional command in the west of the country.

Sharing Intelligence

Allies welcomed Gates’s promise to share more U.S. intelligence compiled on roadside bombs that cause most casualties in Afghanistan. The U.S. also will supply surplus blast-proof trucks from Iraq, electronic monitoring and jamming devices, mine-detection equipment and route-clearance robots.

Obama and other leaders in the coalition are under pressure to show results for the additional forces, which will bring the number of troops in the theater to almost 150,000 later this year. Obama set July 2011 as a target date for beginning a phased drawdown and handover to Afghan soldiers and police.

“We must act swiftly to increase the impact of the forces now headed to the theater for this pivotal year,” Gates said.

On Iran, Gates found common ground with his counterparts, even to some extent in Turkey, which shares a border with the country.

No Other Choice

French Defense Minister Herve Morin said yesterday that world powers have no choice other than to pursue additional sanctions after the Iranian government said it plans to step up uranium enrichment.

The U.S. and its partners have tried for months to engage Iran in talks to stop its nuclear enrichment activities, Morin told reporters in Paris after meeting with Gates.

“It’s led to nothing,” said Morin, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council. “We don’t have any other option than to go to the Security Council for further measures.”

The enrichment plan is increasing concerns in the U.S. and Europe that Iran won’t give up developing the capability to build a nuclear weapon.


IAEA Notified

Iran’s government notified the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency that it will begin enriching uranium to the level needed to power a Tehran medical-research reactor. In a letter delivered yesterday, Iran invited UN inspectors to monitor the process, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said, citing Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ambassador Aliasghar Soltanieh.

The Iranian enrichment plan bucks an international offer that Iran sends its uranium out of the country to be enriched for the medical reactor.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in remarks on Feb. 7 that he was still willing to engage in talks with the U.S. and others while proceeding with the plan.

Iran maintains that its nuclear development work is meant to create fuel for nuclear power plants.

Britain’s Foreign Office said Iran keeps changing its story from week to week.

“Contrary to Iranian assertions, this enriched uranium could not be used for the Tehran Research Reactor as Iran does not have the technology to manufacture it into fuel rods,” the U.K. said.

Political and economic pressure would be intended to bring Iran back to the negotiating table, Gates said.



--With assistance from Ladane Nasseri in Beirut, Ali Sheikholeslami in London and Gregory Viscusi in Paris. Editors: Alan Crawford, Edward DeMarco


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