NATO showing 'restraint' in Afghanistan: Rasmussen 29 February, 2012



WASHINGTON: NATO troops are displaying "great restraint" in Afghanistan in the face of a wave of violent unrest that left four US troops dead and others wounded, the alliance's secretary general said on Tuesday. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted trust had not broken down between alliance-led troops and Afghan security forces, despite incidents in which Afghans turned their weapons on their American partners. The assaults did "not represent the full picture of the daily cooperation" between the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan troops, he told reporters during a visit to Washington. "I deplore the violence we have seen during the last week. But across the country ISAF troops are showing great restraint and professionalism. And Afghan security forces have shown considerable courage in their effort to minimise the violence," he said. Two US military advisers were gunned down in the interior ministry in Kabul on Saturday, days after two American troops were killed by an Afghan soldier in the east. On Sunday, seven US soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack during an anti-US demonstration in northern Kunduz province. NATO promptly pulled its military advisers out of Afghan government ministries following the shooting over the weekend. Popular outrage erupted after Afghans learned that copies of the holy Quran were brought to an incinerator at the US-run Bagram airbase. Top US and NATO officers have apologised and insisted the incident was a grave error but not intentional. Rasmussen accused terrorists of attempting to exploit anger over the holy Quran desecration and said he hoped that NATO military advisers would soon return to their posts at Afghan government ministries. "The enemies of Afghanistan will not succeed in dividing us from our partners. We want to resume with the close cooperation as soon as possible," he said. "But of course we also have to take the necessary measures to ensure our people can do their work in a secure environment." Echoing comments by US officials on Monday, Rasmussen said the turmoil would not trigger any change in the alliance's timeline for a gradual troop withdrawal and handover to Afghan forces by the end of 2014. NATO has a 1,30,000-strong US-led military force fighting the Taliban, which has led an insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government since being toppled from power in 2001. End.