Standing NATO force for Europe proposed

Original: Standing NATO force for Europe proposed

Britain will propose creating a NATO rapid deployment force to defend mainland Europe while alliance troops serve further afield, in an effort to persuade member states to do more in Afghanistan. Reuter is reporting.
Source: KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters)
Defence Secretary John Hutton will propose the 3,000-strong force on Thursday at a meeting of fellow NATO ministers in the Polish city of Krakow, his spokeswoman said.

Hutton told Thursday's edition of the Financial Times that the force would reassure NATO's East European members, in particular the Baltic states, which were alarmed by Russia's incursion into Georgia last year.

"I hope it might make it easier for NATO to do more in Afghanistan, certain in the knowledge that there is a dedicated homeland security force that will have no other call on its p O over the creation of a 25,000-strong NATO Response Force, or NRF, that is supposed to be able to be deployed in a variety of theatres.

The force exists largely on paper at the moment as alliance members could not agree on what role it should play.

"It's supposed to be 25,000 deployable troops, but neither the troops equipment, or personnel have been made available to it," a British defence official said. "Britain is keen to see an NRF that can be deployed as and when necessary."

(Editing by Jon Boyle)