Why can't NATO go global, key U.S. lawmaker asks
By Susan Cornwell Fri Jun 22, 4:43 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NATO should seriously consider expanding into a global alliance including democratic countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Israel, a senior member of Congress said on Friday.
Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, noted some non-member countries have carried big responsibilities as partners with the 26-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Australia, for example, was one of the first to commit troops to the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban and hunt down al Qaeda after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
"Would it not make the (NATO) Supreme Allied Commander feel more comfortable about upcoming global crises if he would have a NATO of a global reach?" Lantos, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, asked at a hearing.
NATO's top operational commander, Gen. Bantz Craddock, and Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Fried noted NATO missions range from a presence in Afghanistan to conducting airlifts for African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.
"From a best military advice perspective, it would indeed be enormously helpful to have more democratic, peace-loving nations as part of the alliance," Craddock, a U.S. Army officer, told Lantos' panel.
NATO was created in 1949 to give the Atlantic community a common defense against the Soviet Union. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has expanded eastward in Europe to take in several countries formerly in the Soviet orbit.
"Never say never," Fried said of Lantos' idea of a global alliance of democratic countries.
But right now, NATO is "not ready" to take such a step, he said. Instead, the alliance was developing partnerships "with nations like Australia and Japan and other nations willing and able to work with NATO."
There were, for example, 11 non-NATO countries contributing to the forces in Kosovo, along with 24 NATO members, Fried said. There were also 11 non-NATO partners participating with all 26 NATO members in the U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.