(Corrects date of end of European Commission term in paragraph
9)
* Rasmussen’s term extended to five years
* Rasmussen says change means new chief can oversee
post-2014 Afghan mission
By Adrian Croft
BRUSSELS, Oct 3 (Reuters) – NATO allies agreed on Wednesday
to extend Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s term by a
year to the end of July 2014, keeping him in charge as NATO-led
forces wind down their combat role in Afghanistan.
Rasmussen, a 59-year-old former Danish prime minister, will
stay in the job until a few months before the end-2014 deadline
for NATO to hand over full responsibility for security in the
country to Afghans.
“I think the first of August 2014 is an appropriate time to
change leadership, so that a new secretary-general can oversee
the implementation of the new mission we will establish in
Afghanistan from 2015,” Rasmussen told reporters.
The NATO-led force in Afghanistan faces a huge logistical
task over the next few years to withdraw foreign soldiers and
their equipment.
From 2015, NATO will scale back its role to leading a
mission to train and advise Afghan security forces. That mission
will be discussed by alliance defence ministers at a meeting in
Brussels next week.
U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the decision to extend
Rasmussen’s tenure, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
“The United States commends the secretary-general for his
strong leadership of America’s most important security alliance,
and we look forward to continuing to work with him and with our
NATO allies and partners as we strengthen and revitalise NATO
for the 21st century,” he said.
Potential successors have begun to jostle to take over from
Rasmussen, with former Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini
throwing his hat into the ring.
The contest to succeed Rasmussen after five years in 2014
will coincide with a scramble for top jobs at Brussels’ other
main international institution, the European Commission. The
current term of the Commission, the EU’s executive, runs until
November 2014.
Rasmussen took the helm at NATO in August 2009 and has been
chief during a turbulent period in Afghanistan, where NATO-led
forces have been engaged in fierce fighting against Taliban
insurgents.
More than 2,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel have
been killed in 11 years of war in Afghanistan as well as more
than 400 British soldiers and 158 Canadians.
The NATO mission has also seen a surge in attacks on foreign
troops by gunmen wearing Afghan police or army uniforms.
At least 52 members of the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force have been killed this year in rogue attacks,
leading to a temporary suspension of some joint operations with
Afghan forces last month that has now been largely lifted.
Last year, a NATO bombing campaign in Libya, approved by the
U.N. Security Council, helped underpin an Arab Spring uprising
that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.
NATO chiefs are traditionally appointed for a four-year term
with the possibility of extending by a year. There have been
cases where a NATO chief’s term has been extended for a few
months beyond that but in recent times, secretaries-general have
not been given full second terms.
(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie, Paul Taylor and Matt
Spetalnick; Editing by Alison Williams)
