Nato forces in Afghanistan cannot prevent insurgents from moving to Central Asia as their fight against the Taliban intensifies, outgoing Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Wednesday. In an interview with AFP on the eve of a regional security conference, Scheffer said it was unclear if a spate of recent militant attacks in Central Asia were linked to escalated military operations in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
"It might well be that as we take on the Taliban in more places they'll go other places," the secretary general said. "If people want to cross borders, Nato cannot prevent that. If militants and extremists want to cross borders into Central Asia to do their horrific work there, Nato cannot possibly stop that."
Experts have long been concerned that the violence that has convulsed Afghanistan and Pakistan could spread into the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, with their volatile ethnic and religious divisions. Indeed, the weeks since intense fighting between Pakistani security forces and Taliban militants began have seen attacks here that local governments have blamed on Islamist fighters.
On Tuesday, five members of a radical Islamist group and one special-forces officer were killed when a "counter-terrorist operation" in Kyrgyzstan turned into a running gunbattle with militants, officials said. The suspected insurgents were said to have been members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group with links to al Qaeda.
The operation came just weeks after officials in neighbouring Uzbekistan said a suicide bomber had detonated himself in the Uzbek city of Andijan, killing a police officer. Scheffer said that Nato, which does not have a mandate to conduct operations in Central Asia, had no information linking the attacks here to coalition operations in Afghanistan. On Afghanistan, Scheffer said a military review currently being undertaken by US General Stanley McChrystal, who took command of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan a week ago, would not result in drastic policy changes.
"We have now, as you know, the 60 day review which is going to be made by General McChrystal, the new commander," he said. "I do not think by the way that you'll see a fundamental change in strategy. What you see... is more attention to avoid civilian casualties."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has long complained about civilian casualties resulting primarily from strikes by unmanned Predator drones which operate both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He added that "the Nato military mission is fundamentally sound, but it is always good to look critically at yourself."
Additionally, Scheffer said it was too soon to tell whether a resent upsurge in violence in Afghanistan was linked with recent Pakistani military operations in that country's lawless tribal areas. Afghan insurgents have stepped up their use of bombs in recent weeks with deadly roadside blasts and suicide attacks reported nearly every day.
"If it's enough that's difficult to say for me but I do see that the Pakistani government is taking the extremists seriously, are doing a lot in fighting them and I think that's a welcome development," he said. "If this will be the end of the problems, I don't know. It's too early to say. But it is crystal clear that we should see the problems in stabilising Afghanistan in a regional context where Pakistan plays an important role."