Halifax, Canada: International political and military officials agreed no exit strategy should be set for troops in Afghanistan, while the United States urged Iran to engage the West at a new security forum that wrapped up Sunday.
“We would prefer that the Iranian regime follow through on the opportunity to engage,” Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the US State Department, told delegates in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Tehran “asked for engagement with the United States. It has it. Now what is it going to do? Is it going to stand up and say that they’re going to take our deal… or are they going to use some other flimsy excuse to duck,” she said.
US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said Friday that the United States and its negotiating partners Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany were not yet “at the point” of closing the window on dialogue.
The six powers have expressed disappointment that Iran has not responded positively to a deal to ship low-grade nuclear fuel abroad or agreed to new talks.
“If persuasion doesn’t work, pressure is going to have to be the next line of action,” Tauscher warned Sunday, suggesting a further round of sanctions against Iran. “I don’t believe (military action against Iran) is on the table now,” she added.
Organized jointly by the Canadian government and the German Marshall Fund, a public policy institute for strengthening transatlantic ties, delegates at the inaugural three-day Halifax International Security Forum had earlier agreed that setting an exit date for Afghanistan would only embolden the Taliban.
On Friday, US Senator John McCain predicted an allied win in Afghanistan in one year to 18 months if sufficient troops are sent, as the White House mulls sending tens of thousands of reinforcements.
The future of NATO and international claims on untapped Arctic oil also dominated discussions, largely behind closed doors, between US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top officials from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.
Gates announced Washington aims to boost cooperation with Canada in the Arctic, as Russia and others eye its vast untapped resources.
He also urged the international community to ensure that aid and development projects in Afghanistan do not fuel corruption in war-torn Afghanistan.
On Saturday, Canada’s top soldier said that a war would likely never be fought over the Arctic, but its opening up could spark new clashes as far away as the Middle East and between trading nations.
“There is no conventional military threat to the Arctic,” General Walter Natynczyk told the summit. “If someone were to invade the Canadian Arctic, my first task would be to rescue them.
“The Arctic is a very harsh environment,” he said. “This is not an easy environment of the world to operate in.”
Stephen Carmel of Maersk Line said the opening of new Arctic shipping routes would impact global trade, making some countries’ products relatively cheaper and redrawing trade pattern.
“The result will be trade friction in anything that dramatically changes relative costs,” he said.
“That is the sort of thing that leads to conflict,” Carmel concluded. “These sort of trade effects are what will really change the world, not whether we get a few more barrels of oil from the Arctic.”
A key difference of this event from similar summits held previously in Europe is that guests were invited from New Zealand, Japan, India and elsewhere, not just from Canada, the United States and European nations.
This marks an evolution to broader involvement in security matters of concern to NATO, said Will Bohlen, a spokesman for the German Marshall Fund, told AFP.
“A lot of security challenges are not limited to the transatlantic sphere,” he said. “And there’s greater cooperation and partnerships around the world now to deal with new security threats.”
Delegates also talked about nuclear proliferation, Pakistan, Iraq and the Middle East, China and North Korea, pandemics, energy security, piracy and port security, and the geopolitical consequences of the economic crisis.
