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Wyborcza: Russia Offers to Help Nato in Afghanistan
Bartosz Węglarczyk 2008-03-14, ostatnia aktualizacja 2008-03-14
19:24:57.0
Vladimir Putin is playing a major game with the Nato. He
is offering to help the Alliance in its war against the taliban
in Afghanistan, in return expecting the Nato to close its
door for Ukraine and Georgia as members, Saturday's Gazeta
reveals.
The Nato's main capitals and Moscow have for a week now been
involved in a major geopolitical game, at stake in which are,
on the one hand, the success of the Nato's operation in Afghanistan,
and, on the other, a huge propaganda success for Vladimir
Putin as his presidential term draws to an end.
According to diplomatic sources in Poland and the Nato, the
alliance has for several weeks now been negotiating Moscow's
permission to use a transit corridor to supply Nato troops
fighting in Afghanistan. It is precisely transport that is
the alliance's weak spot today, as it lacks enough aircraft
to ship people, equipment and supplies, while rail transport
from Pakistan, the presently used option, is unreliable, often
falling victim to the taliban or thieves (Poland, among other
countries, lost equipment there).
The Russians are willing to make available not only rail
transport and air space, but also a major transit base in
Uzbekistan, the same one that the Red Army used during its
ill-fated invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Gazeta's sources in Washington said that during his lunch
with Angela Merkel in Moscow last week, Vladimir Putin offered
for Russia to actually send troops to Afghanistan to help
the undermanned Nato force. Ms Merkel forwarded the offer
to several politicians in Europe and the US, but odds are
it will be rejected.
In return for helping the alliance, Mr Putin is demanding
two things - that the Nato closes its door for Ukraine and
Georgia, and that during the Nato's summit in Bucharest in
April, Mr Putin is received as an equal partner rather than
just a guest.
More on that and comments - in Saturday's Gazeta.
translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak
Bartosz Węglarczyk
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