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Ambassador Holbrooke Briefs NATO After
Afghanistan, Pakistan Visit
 Ambassador
Richard Holbrooke,
Special Representative for
Afghanistan and Pakistan
(SRAP), briefed NATO Ambassadors in Brussels just hours
after leaving Afghanistan. His visit provided NATO
delegations an up-to-date look at the situation on the
ground.
Speaking
afterward to journalists, Ambassador Holbrooke
emphasized the importance of military and civilian
contributions from Allies and partners to the
effort in Afghanistan:
“We appreciate every soldier that every one of the 41
countries, including every NATO member, has sent there,
under very difficult circumstances.” Ambassador
Holbrooke also spoke about key programs in Afghanistan,
such as army and police training, and the crucial role
such forces play in securing the country particularly
leading up to the August 20 election.
Ambassador Holbrooke’s visit was part of the regular
consultations between the United States and its Allies.
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New Secretary
General Underscores Priorities by Visiting Afghanistan
During His First Week
 NATO’s
new Secretary General,
Anders Fogh Rasmussen,
formally took up his duties on
August 1. At his
first NATO press conference,
Mr. Rasmussen outlined his
priorities, including success in
Afghanistan through a
comprehensive military and
civilian approach, NATO-Russia
relations, cooperation with
Mediterranean Dialogue and
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative
countries, the situation in
Kosovo, and the process towards
a new Strategic Concept for the
Alliance. In his comments, the
Secretary General noted that
“NATO is doing more, in more
places, than it ever has before.
Because it is a family of
nations that can trust and rely
on each other, at any time,
against any threat and in any
weather. It is a community of
democracies defending common
values: freedom, peace,
security. And NATO remains the
ultimate insurance policy for
almost 1 billion (actually 900
million) people in 28 countries."
Days after taking up his new
role, Secretary General
Rasmussen visited Afghanistan to
meet with Afghan
President Hamid Karzai and
other Afghan officials, ISAF
Commander
General Stanley McChrystal
and
UN Special Representative Kai
Eide. During his visit, Mr.
Rasmussen stressed the
importance of close cooperation
among the international
community, as well as with the
Afghan authorities, particularly
in the lead up to the
August 20 elections. The
Secretary General also traveled
to Kandahar and to Helmand
Province where U.S. and UK
forces recently mounted a major
offensive to push back Taliban
insurgents.
New Strategic Concept for NATO
In his first public address,
Secretary General Rasumussen outlined his plans for the
drafting of a new
Strategic Concept, the document that lays the
foundation for Alliance unity and purpose. A group of 12
experts chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright will consult with NATO Allies and
partners, NGOs, think tanks and international
organizations, then submit conclusions to the Secretary
General. Public consultations, via an online forum and
town hall meetings across the Alliance, will also weigh
into this process. Mr. Rasumussen will then lead final
negotiations among the Alliance, and a draft will be
agreed upon at NATO’s next Summit in Lisbon in late
2010.
Since the last Strategic Concept was adopted at the
Washington Summit in 1999, Mr. Rasmussen told the press,
“this Alliance has almost doubled in size and taken on
missions and threats no one could have imagined at the
time. The moment has come for the theory to catch up
with the practice, and for all the members of the
Alliance, old and new, to chart a common way forward.”
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AFGHANISTAN ELECTIONS - AUGUST 20
Track elections at these links:
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Ten Countries Share the Heavy Load
with New Strategic Airlift Capability
 In
order to ensure that all countries in
the NATO Alliance and our partners have the necessary
strategic airlift to effectively support NATO operations
from Kosovo to Afghanistan, ten NATO nations and two
partners formed the
Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) Initiative to
purchase three Boeing C-17 transport aircraft. The
first of these C-17s was welcomed to the Initiative’s
home base, Pápa Airbase in Hungary, recently in a
celebration attended by representatives from
all participating countries including Finland and
Sweden, and NATO members Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary,
Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania,
Slovenia, and the United States. NATO’s Deputy
Secretary General Claudio Bisogniero noted that the SAC
Initiative “exemplifies what can be accomplished when
nations come together for a common purpose – to acquire,
collectively, a capability that would be beyond the
means of nations, acting individually. This is the true
testimony of Allied solidarity.”
NATO Training Mission-Iraq Celebrates 5th
Anniversary
 The
NATO Training Mission-Iraq (NTM-I), a mission which assists Iraq
in building its own armed forces, celebrated its fifth anniversary
on August 5. Created in 2004, NTM-I trains, mentors, and
advises Iraqi Security Forces officers that will ultimately provide
for Iraq’s security unassisted. Not a combat mission, NTM-I’s
operational emphasis is on training and coordination. NTM-I was
established at the request of the Iraqi Interim Government and
mentors and supports the national defense college and institute,
trains the national police, and mentors
the Prime Minister’s National Operations Centre, the Iraqi Ministry
of Interior Command Centre and the Iraqi Ministry of Defence Joint
Operations Centre.
New Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Named
 French General
Stéphane Abrial
will replace U.S. General
James N. Mattis as Supreme Allied Commander
Transformation (SACT) on September 9 at a change of
command ceremony at Headquarters Supreme
Allied Command
Transformation in Norfolk, Viriginia, United States.
General Abrial is currently Chief of Staff of the French
Air Force.
The position of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation
was created in 2002 in an overall process to reform
NATO’s chains of command. The SACT is one of NATO’s two
strategic commanders and the commanding officer of
Allied Command Transformation.
The SACT is responsible to NATO’s Military Committee,
the highest military authority in NATO, for promoting
and overseeing the continuing transformation of Alliance
forces and capabilities.
From 2002 to 2009, SACT has been a United States Flag or
General officer, and dual-hatted as Commander of the
U.S. Joint Forces Command, which is responsible for
maximizing future and present military capabilities of
the United States. His command is exercised from the
Headquarters of Alliance Command Transformation in
Norfolk.
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