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NATO Australia increases ISAF commitment On the 10th of April Australia pledged to significantly increase its military contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. The decision was well received by the Allies. more U.S. Endorses Future NATO Expansion President Bush has signed a new law extending U.S. military assistance to aspiring NATO members Albania, Croatia, Georgia, Macedonia and Ukraine. The NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2007 urges admission of the five countries into the alliance and authorizes new funding for military training and equipment for them, the White House said in a statement issued April 10. more
Afghan Official Cites Economic, Security Progress with U.S. Help Despite a nagging Taliban-backed insurgency, Afghanistan is advancing steadily to meet daunting economic and security challenges thanks to substantial help from the United States, reports Afghan Finance Minister Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady. more Podcast with Major Steinar Sveinsson, Public Information Officer for the NATO Training Mission in Iraq “…The NATO Training Mission itself is here supporting the Iraqi’s, to develop and build up their education facilities for the Iraqi military and the Iraqi security forces. We support in Ar Rustamiyah, on the outskirts of Baghdad some 12 km away from the International Zone, we support the Iraqi Military Academy Ar Rustamiyah which was established in 1924 by the Brits and it is the oldest military Academy in Iraq and for a long time the only one…” more | MP3 audio
April 26 – 27, 2007 Informal Foreign Ministers Meeting, Oslo, Norway |
KOSOVO
NATO decision-makers visit Kosovo On 2 April, the North Atlantic Council, led by the Secretary General, toured Kosovo. Their visit was a demonstration of the firm commitment of all NATO Allies to continue to ensure a safe and secure environment as proposals for Kosovo’s status made by UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari are being discussed in the UN Security Council. more Independent Kosovo Only Solution, U.S. Envoy Wisner Says Negotiations on Kosovo's future status have reached the "crucial and final stage," the U.S. special envoy for Kosovo status talks says, and the international community should accept the U.N. settlement plan to help bring peace and stability to southeastern Europe. "The United States believes the time is at hand. Kosovo needs to be settled. It can't be left dangling and we are determined to do everything in our power to make sure the issue is settled," Ambassador Frank Wisner, the Secretary of State's special envoy for Kosovo, said April 4. more | Transcript iraq
President Bush Discusses Iraq War Supplemental, War on Terror What happens in the Middle East matters here in America. The terrorists would have emerged under this scenario more emboldened. They would have said, our enemy, the United States, the enemy that we attacked, turns out to be what they thought: weak in the face of violence, weak in the face of challenge. If we retreat -- were to retreat from Iraq, what's interesting and different about this war is that the enemy would follow us here. And that's why it's important we succeed in Iraq.” more | On-the-Record Briefing on Iraq |
US-RUSSIAN RELATIONS U.S.-Russian Relations Strong, Complex, Rice Says Relations between the United States and Russia are strong and complex, but also are marked by U.S. concerns about some aspects of Russia's political and economic transition, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Russia has “a great culture, it’s a critically important power in international politics, but it is a country that is still in the midst of a really major transition,” Rice told American newspaper editors April 2. more MISSILE DEFENSE Congress Examines Rationale for European Missile Defenses Members of Congress are examining closely a U.S. proposal to extend limited missile-defense protection to Central Europe. The proposal, subject to negotiations with host governments, would put 10 missile interceptors in Poland and one radar unit in the Czech Republic to defend against a growing ballistic missile threat from the Middle East. more
Missile Defense System Uses Nonexplosive Interceptor, U.S. Says The proposed U.S. missile-defense system in Central Europe would not fire any explosive projectiles, only an unarmed interceptor, a senior U.S. official says, adding that the United States would like to link the system with NATO and, possibly, Russian defenses. more | Transcript SUDAN Top U.S. Diplomat Cites Chinese Cooperation on Darfur China increasingly is cooperating with the United States toward ending the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, while President Bush "wants action" and is prepared to impose further sanctions on Sudan, says Ambassador Andrew Natsios, the president's special envoy to Sudan. Natsios told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee April 11 that the Chinese "have been largely supportive of our efforts to resolve the Darfur situation through peaceful means and have been publicly encouraging Khartoum" to allow African Union (AU) and U.N. peacekeepers into the western province of Sudan. more | Transcript |
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Transatlantic Focus:
A U.S. Foreign Policy Newsletter
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