NATO resolves to back U.S. action

By Batuk Gathani

BRUSSELS, SEPT. 14. European Union Governments and 19 NATO countries are weighing both the military and political options available to the U.S. amid the realisation that the President, Mr. George W. Bush, may soon narrow the military options, as intelligence agencies point accusing fingers at Osama bin Laden for this week's terrorist raids against American targets.

The North Atlantic Council urgently met in response to the terrorist attacks, which according to current estimates, may have cost 5,000 to 7,000 lives. Several hundred European - mainly British citizens, have also died.

In a statement, the Atlantic Council agreed that if it is determined that this attack was directed from abroad against the U.S., it shall be regarded as an action covered in Article Five of the Washington Treaty, which states that an armed attack against one or more allies in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. The council further resolved that ``the commitment to collective self-defence embodied in the Washington Treaty was first entered into in circumstances very different from those that exist now, but it remains no less valid and no less essential today, in a world subject to the scourge of international terrorism.''

Article Five stipulates that in the event of attacks falling within its purview, each (NATO) ally will assist the party that has been attacked by taking such action as it deems necessary. ``The NATO allies of the U.S. stand ready to provide assistance that may be required as a consequence of these acts of barbarism.''

It is hence proposed that a multinational task force should be convened under the NATO Charter which commits every member of the military alliance to protect all others.

Such a force may be deployed to invade all or part of Afghanistan. Western military strategists also point that a such a force could also be in the danger of being bogged down in the Afghan mountains as the Soviet army did 20 years ago. The current European perception is that Mr. Bush is heavily dependent on the American public opinion which has ``rarely demonstrated the stamina necessary for such protracted struggle.'' Hence, it is argued that Mr. Bush may also face contradictory advice from different members of his immediate circle which is divided between hawks and doves but the final policy decision has to be his as both history and posterity may judge the Bush presidency on the choice he makes in the next few days.

Major European powers including Russia have expressed their outrage at the terrorist attacks but have also advised Mr. Bush to proceed with caution in his mission to beat the terrorists. It is argued that pounding Afghanistan into dust with cruise missiles and long-range bombers might make America feel better about the Manhattan horror, as American air waves continue to display unprecedented fury, fear and clamour for retaliation. Most Europeans feel that the plan under discussion by NATO ambassadors is more ambitious, as by far for the first time it evokes ``mutual defence'' term under Article Five. Under the NATO umbrella, the U.S. would be assured of the support of its European allies in any military campaign in Afghanistan.

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