NATO calls on international institutions and an Afghan "civilian surge" to boost reconstruction efforts and help spread democracy in Afghanistan.
Ahead of the elections on Aug. 20, alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday called on international institutions like the United Nations and the European Union, to help provide "more development, more support for governance and more institution building."
Warning of the price of failure in Afghanistan, where NATO has undertaken its biggest and most challenging mission ever, he said that the coalition is still battling to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency.
Talking to reporters in Krakow, southern Poland, after chairing informal talks between NATO defense ministers, he said that although the EU is training the Afghan police, other than providing eight million euros over a period of nine years (2001-09), it is not only a matter of more forces in Afghanistan, "we need an equal civilian surge as well," AFP quoted him as saying.
US President Barack Obama on Feb. 18 approved the deployment of 17,000 more US troops to Afghanistan, in response to a request by the US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, who had asked for 30,000.
Pointing to the upcoming Afghan elections, Hoop Scheffer said that these elections will be a real test to see if NATO's efforts to help spread security and democracy in Afghanistan have been of any success. He added that the coming months they (NATO) could face a much bigger problem, which would pose disturbing questions about their future there.
The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, faces a "constitutional crisis" as his mandate runs out in May and his government is accused of rampant corruption.
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