NATO leaders yesterday put behind them bitter rows over Iraq and agreed to train the security forces of the new Baghdad government, just hours after it formally took office.
The vaguely worded deal was approved at a summit of the 26 leaders who have spent more than a year glowering at each other over the US-led invasion of Iraq, which was opposed by many European states, including France and Germany.
There were no details in the training deal, reflecting continued disputes over how overt a role the alliance should play in Iraq and a careful attempt to play up harmony in the alliance as it gears to face new security threats.
"There was the expected agreement, which related to training, and to training only," said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. "Germany has an interest in a stabilized, a democratic Iraq."
The alliance also agreed to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan from 6,500 to 10,000 to bolster security during September elections.
"We have agreed today on a major expansion of NATO's role in Afghanistan," said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. "We made a commitment to help and we will meet it."
He has cited the alliance's plans to widen its peace mission as proof that it can project stability far from national borders. Critics say NATO is doing too little, too late.
De Hoop Scheffer has had to wheedle troops and costly equipment out of nations to expand the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and it was unclear which countries would contribute the extra 3,500 troops announced yesterday.
Iraq's new interim government formally took power from the US-led occupying authority two days ahead of schedule in an effort to thwart rising guerrilla activity.
"We need training and assistance inside Iraq," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told reporters after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the sidelines of the summit.
"We need to build our capabilities to rise to the challenge and we have asked NATO to take Iraq seriously."
The deal on helping Iraq falls far short of the boots-on-the-ground role Washington had sought for the alliance, which was scotched by French and German resistance.
While US officials have briefed reporters in glowing terms about the training agreement, France was distinctly cool.
French officials said it would be a job for allies, not the alliance as a whole, and there would be "no NATO flag" in Iraq.
Leftist protesters objecting to NATO hurled paving stones and petrol bombs at riot police yesterday, but were kept far from the summit center.
Police responded with baton charges, tear gas and water cannon. Around 30 people were reported injured.
In a separate protest, Greenpeace activists dangling from a suspension bridge over the Bosphorus strait unfurled a 30m banner showing a dove of peace with a nuclear missile in its beak and the phrase "Nukes out of NATO."
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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