Nato must tackle new threats before they "end up on our doorstep," the alliance's chief warned on Sunday as leaders gathered for a summit at which the new Iraqi government will be offered training for its troops.
The transatlantic alliance, which was plunged into one of the deepest crises in its 55-year history by splits over last year's US-led invasion of Iraq, had to haggle hard last week to avert a public row at the summit over its training role.
"I expect that at tomorrow's discussions Nato will...give a clear signal of our willingness to enhance our support to a sovereign Iraqi government," Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said ahead of the two-day meeting in Istanbul.
He did not trumpet the agreement on training, which is a far cry from the boots-on-the-ground role sought by Washington for Nato but blocked by French and German resistance.
Instead, he warned against Western indifference to insecurity in Afghanistan, where Nato has a 6,500-strong peace force, and the insurgency wreaking havoc across post-war Iraq.
"If we do not tackle the problems where they emerge they will end up on our doorstep," de Hoop Scheffer said.
"The international community in its entirety, not just Nato, cannot allow itself to see Afghanistan return to being a safe haven for terrorism," he told Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore daily.
"The same goes for Iraq, which cannot go up in flames amid general indifference. Because the entire region would be destabilised."
De Hoop Scheffer urged critics not to belittle the task of training Iraqi troops, arguing that it would help the interim government - which is due to be sworn in when the US-led occupation ends on Wednesday - to resolve its own problems.
Talks on Nato's Iraq role became bogged down last week amid differences over whether it should train officers in-country under an alliance flag, or limit its role to training outside Iraq and acting as a clearing house for national efforts.
There were also disputes over whether to open the door to a more far-reaching Nato military involvement later.
Diplomats said the text that emerged after three rounds of tense negotiations between Nato envoys was vaguely worded, and details had been left until after the summit.
Nevertheless US Ambassador to Nato Nicholas Burns said Nato's role should be comprehensive, training the army, police, border security forces and bulk of the national defence.
Last week's wrangling over Nato's role was a faint echo of the bust-up before the Iraq war last year, when France and Germany blocked military assistance to Iraq's neighbour Turkey.
De Hoop Scheffer said there was now a "new momentum in transatlantic security co-operation" and suggested that the unilateralism of neo-conservatives in Washington who championed the invasion of Iraq was dead.
Nato leaders will announce in Istanbul the expansion of its Afghan operation beyond Kabul and would soon command five military-civilian reconstruction teams in the north. Plans to set up teams in the west of the country have been delayed because of allies' reluctance to offer costly equipment such as helicopters and transport planes for Afghanistan.
Human Rights Watch said last week that Nato foot-dragging had contributed to a worsening security situation, and more military support was needed to ensure September's elections are not derailed by Islamic militants and warlord intimidation.
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