Testimony of Daniel Fried
Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs
House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Subcommittee on
“The
Introduction
Chairman Wexler, Ranking Member
Gallegly, Members of the Committee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to
appear before you today to discuss the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s
Bucharest Summit – the largest in its history – and the way forward for the world’s
most successful political-military alliance.
NATO is not just a military
alliance; it is an alliance of values that provided the foundation for freedom’s
victory in the Cold War. While its core mission
remains the same – the defense of its members – NATO is achieving this in new
ways. It is evolving into a 21st
century role, enlarging the area in Europe where freedom is secure, defending
this transatlantic community against new threats and challenges that are often
global in scope, and building partnerships around the globe with like-minded
countries who want to work together with NATO to face these challenges. The Bucharest Summit further advanced NATO’s
transformation in each of these areas.
I will speak today about the
The Bucharest Summit was one
of the most productive and certainly the most open summit that I can remember. It was certainly the least scripted. Indeed, the Summit Declaration decisions
concerning
The
Bucharest Summit advanced
§
Allies strengthened their commitment to operations in
§
Allies invited two new members
to join them and set out a vision of
future membership for others, including an invitation for
§
Allies endorsed the need for
strengthened partnerships across the globe with individual countries as
well as with other international institutions, increasing NATO’s ability to
cooperate across the full spectrum of civil-military measures to address
security challenges wherever they might arise.
§
Allies endorsed the need for new
defense capabilities to meet emerging security challenges of the future, in
particular missile defense, but also cyber and energy security.
§
Despite some differences with Russia, including over Kosovo, Russia’s
suspension of its implementation of the CFE Treaty, Missile Defense, and
enlargement, Allies took decisions about
NATO’s agenda on their own terms while reaffirming their continuing
interest in using the NATO-Russia Council to develop a productive relationship
with Russia based on cooperation in areas of common interest.
NATO’s Key Operations
Afghanistan
At
But
it was not the meeting that mattered so much as the long-term commitment that the
assembled NATO Allies and ISAF partners made – to support the Afghan government
and people in building an enduring, stable, secure, prosperous and democratic
Afghan state, free from the threat of terrorism – through their endorsement of
an ISAF strategic vision statement. The vision that these leaders set out not
only charts a way forward in Afghanistan, it also demonstrates that NATO, a
transatlantic organization, is part of a wider global community committed to
tackling the security challenges of our time.
The
ISAF leaders’ statement outlines a comprehensive strategy calling for
coordinated efforts in the areas of security, economic development, and good governance. Civil-military coordination can and should be
better, and NATO welcomed the appointment of the new UN Special Representative,
Ambassador Kai Eide – a former Ambassador to NATO and envoy in Kosovo – as an
experienced diplomat whose mission includes bringing greater coherence to
international civilian efforts, and greater coordination with NATO and the
government of Afghanistan.
Through new force contributions, many Allies backed
up these words of commitment with deeds.
President Sarkozy announced that
Some Allies, like the Poles, deserve special recognition for increased contributions over the past
year.
Despite
these contributions, however, we still need Allies to do more to provide the
combat troops, helicopters, and trainers crucial to the ISAF mission. Achieving
success will require surmounting real challenges – operationally on the ground
in
We
must be sober about the situation: levels of violence are up, particularly in the
South where the vast bulk of opium poppies is grown. We know that counterinsurgency and
counternarcotics efforts must be intertwined.
Because the narcotics trade helps fuel the insurgency and fosters
corruption, we cannot succeed in one unless we succeed in the other. ISAF can and should do more, especially in
the area of interdiction, to help the Afghans implement an effective
counternarcotics strategy.
While we face the challenges
with open eyes, it is also important to
recognize that progress has been made. In
2001, under the Taliban, only 900,000 children had access to education and it
was illegal for girls to attend school. Only
eight percent of the population was able to receive healthcare. Commerce was inhibited by the lack of paved
roads. The Taliban imposed a destructive
and repressive regime on the people of
But, as President Karzai
noted in his speech at
Many
Europeans are skeptical about the
Kosovo
NATO’s mission in Kosovo (KFOR) is critical – not just
for NATO but for the UN and the European Union.
NATO has played a vital role in Kosovo’s security since it led the successful
military campaign in 1999 to stop and reverse the ethnic cleansing, and then
put in place the KFOR peacekeeping force under UNSCR 1244.
Kosovo is now independent,
but NATO will continue its mission there, and at Bucharest NATO renewed its
commitment to doing its job: maintaining
security and stability, and in so doing, contributing to freedom of movement
and protection of minorities and religious sites. NATO made clear that it will continue to play
a key role in the establishment of a new, multi-ethnic Kosovo Security Force
and a Kosovo government civilian agency to oversee it.
It is important to recognize
that KFOR cannot succeed in these tasks alone.
Other international organizations, in concert with local governing
structures, must continue to be engaged and act responsibly.
The challenges we have seen
recently in Kosovo primarily involve Serb-instigated violence by a small number
of radicals, supported in at least some instances by authorities – or some
authority – in
NATO faced a major test for three
days in March, when a small group of Serb extremists took over a courthouse
complex in Mitrovica. Rightly understanding
that mob violence can not be allowed to succeed, UNMIK, with KFOR’s extensive
support, successfully retook the facility.
KFOR troops – French soldiers mainly – managed this situation with great
professionalism under fire, and KFOR’s actions here and throughout Kosovo in
support of the UN and other international organizations, have been prompt,
correct, and effective. Both sustained
injuries – UNMIK had 42 wounded and one fatality, a Ukrainian police officer;
KFOR had 22 soldiers wounded.
We must maintain our
collective resolve in the face of future provocations and attempts by outside
actors to instigate violence. It is
particularly important that the UN and EU continue to play a strong,
stabilizing role in Kosovo, and that the UNMIK presence gradually transition to
an EU-led rule of law mission.
Finally, when we think about Kosovo, it is also
important to note what has not
occurred following Kosovo’s declaration of independence. There has not been the massive inter-communal
violence that we had all feared. There have
been no refugees, no internally displaced persons, and no trouble at
patrimonial sites. We are not yet past
the point of dangerous threats to stability in Kosovo, especially in the North,
but we are on the right track and making progress day by day. If we are steady in the face of pressure and
provocations, time will be on our side, and on the side of the Kosovo
government which has taken seriously its responsibilities following
independence.
Iraq
NATO’s Training Mission in
At
NATO Enlargement and Open Door Policy
Adriatic
Charter Countries
At
Bringing
The
In
In one of the most
interesting and complicated discussions of the
In saying this, NATO made a
momentous strategic decision that avoids drawing a line in
Thus, leaders made the major
political decision. What was not agreed
was the technical step – an offer to help these countries in their reform
efforts through participation in NATO’s Membership Action Plan. Allies made clear, however, that this is the
next step in their relationship with NATO, and leaders explicitly stated that NATO’s
Foreign
Ministers, who meet in December 2008, are authorized to take decisions about
MAP participation.
Over
the next months, we will continue to work
closely with these aspirants and with our Allies with the objective of reaching
consensus on the timing of their admission to the Membership Action Plan.
Allies
also invited Bosnia-Herzegovina and
NATO’s enlargement has been
one of the most successful U.S.-led initiatives in the post-Cold War era, and
it remains a driving force for aspirant nations to undertake difficult
reforms. The
Partnership
As
a larger NATO tackles 21st century security challenges that know no geographic
limits, NATO is increasingly working with partners who share this desire to
meet today’s security challenges.
When
the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, NATO was an
Through
the creation of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for
Peace after the Cold War, NATO provided the political and practical cooperation
necessary to help newly free nations of
NATO
matched the Partnership for Peace with the establishment of the Mediterranean
Dialogue, and, in the aftermath of 9/11, NATO realized the need to reach out to
new partners around the world on the basis of shared security interests and
democratic values. This included
establishing the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative to reach out to nations of the
At
Enhancing Capabilities, Including Missile Defense
At
To defend against new threats
on technology and energy, NATO also adopted a cyber defense policy that enhances
its ability to protect its sensitive infrastructure, allows Allies to pool
experience and capabilities, and permits NATO to come to the assistance of an
Ally whose cyber infrastructure is under threat. Members of Congress played a key role in
focusing attention on this issue following the cyber attacks against
NATO’s engagement to improve energy security will now enable
Allies to share energy related information and intelligence, assist with civil
expertise and disaster relief in the event of an energy-related incident, and
support the protection of critical energy infrastructure via maritime
surveillance. NATO will also advance
regional cooperation by promoting political dialogue on energy security among
its partners.
In a major step forward, NATO
also endorsed the protection of
NATO tasked further work to
develop options for the protection of all
NATO-Russia Relations
NATO continues to seek to work
together with
At
On some issues, such as
Kosovo and the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), we continue to
have serious differences with
Russian President Putin’s participation
in this Summit highlighted that NATO can seek to work together with Russia,
while taking its own decisions for the benefit of NATO and Euro-Atlantic
security as a whole. Our challenge in
coming years will be to narrow these differences, and work together to address
emerging security threats, even as certain areas of disagreement will
undoubtedly remain.
Conclusion
NATO
faces genuine challenges. It always
has. And while the Bucharest Summit
successfully addressed some challenges, many more remain. But the strength and enduring character of
the
Fifteen
years ago, NATO was an alliance which had never actually engaged in operations
anywhere, though it was prepared to do so. Today, NATO is both a larger alliance and an
alliance taking action to meet security challenges around the world. While NATO’s
mission remains the same – the defense of its members – how it fulfills this
mission is evolving. Today NATO is becoming the
transatlantic community’s security arm for the 21st century, and is transforming
its defense capabilities commensurate with its mission.
NATO’s
60th Anniversary in April 2009 will be an historic milestone
celebrated with a
NATO has served as the
security umbrella under which centuries-old rivalries within
Mr. Chairman, Representative Gallegly,
and other Members of the Committee, in the months ahead, we look forward to continuing
this work with you.
Thank you for your
attention. I look forward to your
questions.