NATO to look at specialised forces

Rumsfeld said NATO has to adapt to the 21st century

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO members are set to address discrepancies in their NATO expenditure budgets, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said.

Rumsfeld said "gaps in investment" exist between the military organisation's 19 full members.

Talks held between NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday focused on how the gap could be addressed.

Members are again to discuss how to tackle the discrepancy at the Prague Summit focusing on the possibility that countries could specialise in certain military fields.

"Not all countries are the same size, or have the same needs," Rumsfeld told a news conference following the Brussels meeting.

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"So it makes a lot sense...to look at specific areas and develop a high degree of skill.

"I have confidence that reasonable people find their way to reasonable decisions. Sometimes it takes time, sometimes circumstances mean that some countries take longer than others."

The change would be part of an overhaul of the alliance's structure and military might for the post-September 11 world.

Alliance officials on both sides of the Atlantic are concerned about the growing gap between U.S. military might and outdated, underfunded European forces, saying it could undermine future alliance missions, The Associated Press reports.

The aim is to break away from NATO's traditional role of defending Europe from what is currently seen as a nonexistent Soviet threat and to give the alliance the means to project power to far-flung regions harbouring terrorists that threaten allied nations.

Rumsfeld said it may be necessary for NATO to "calibrate the definition of defensive" to counter new threats from global terrorist organisations with weapons of mass destruction.

"If terrorists can attack at any time and any place using any technique, and it is physically impossible to defend in every place, in every time against every technique, then one needs to calibrate the definition of defensive.

"Literally the only way to defend against individuals -- or groups, organisations or countries -- that have weapons of mass destruction and are bent on using them against you, for example ... then the only defense is to take the effort to find those global networks and to deal with them as the United States did in Afghanistan.

"Is that defensive or is it offensive? I personally think of it as defensive."

Several European allies voiced support for Rumsfeld's call for European nations to spend more to modernise their forces even before the meeting.

"The alliance should agree... to an effective NATO role against the new threats presented by international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction," British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar wrote to NATO ahead of the meeting.

NATO Secretary General George Robertson urged defence ministers to spend more on their military forces to ensure the alliance remains relevant for new security threats.

He said: "The attack on the United States last September brought home to everyone that there is no relief in today's world from the obligations of defence or the need for military preparedness."

Robertson put at the top of NATO's "adaption agenda" a new military capabilities drive with firm, country-by-country commitments to deliver the most urgent requirements.

The ministers also discussed the potential threat from countries developing weapons of mass destruction.

Rumsfeld said the threat was "real and not theoretical," the possible impact making the September 11 attacks "seem modest."

NATO has to deal with the threats of the 21st century rather the problems posed by the Cold War during 20th century, he added.

He suggested that the wording of the Washington Treaty -- that forms the current workings of NATO -- should be rewritten.

The meeting was also the first session of the new NATO-Russia Council, launched last week at a summit in Rome.

The crisis between nuclear neighbours India and Pakistan were also on the agenda. Rumsfeld was cautiously optimistic that conflict in South Asia could be averted.

The U.S. defence secretary said during a press conference before the meeting: "There's no question that when you have two nations that have nuclear weapons and the situation is as it is between India and Pakistan today, that it's a dangerous situation.

But he said both countries would make judgements about what was in their best interests and he added: "They may well be looking for ways to tamp things down." (Full Story)

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said he was prepared to consider working with Pakistan to jointly monitor the Line of Control in the disputed region of Kashmir to end cross-border attacks.

But the suggestion was given a cool response by officials in Islamabad. (Full Story)

Rumsfeld will also visit several Gulf countries including Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, during his 10-day tour.

He is due to visit South Asia next week following U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday.