Anger over Gates Nato criticism
Nato angered by Robert Gates' claims its soldier cannot combat Taliban insurgency
Thursday, 17, Jan 2008 11:01
American's Nato allies have reacted angrily to suggestions from the US defence secretary that their soldiers are not trained to fight the Taliban.
The Netherlands has summoned the US ambassador to Amsterdam to explain Robert Gates' comments, which also apply to Canadian and British troops in Afghanistan's south.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Mr Gates questioned whether Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) was capable of dealing with the guerrilla war it is embroiled in.
"I'm worried we have some military forces that don't know how to do counterinsurgency operations," the US defence secretary said.
Although Mr Gates did not name any specific Nato members, his comments have angered the Netherlands, which as well as being one of Washington's biggest European allies recently lost two of its soldiers in Afghanistan to friendly fire.
Although angered by the criticism, the country's defence minister Eimert van Middlekoop said it was a "misunderstanding".
He told Dutch broadcaster NOS: "This is not the Robert Gates we have come to know.
"It's also not the manner in which you treat each other when you have to cooperate with each other in the south of Afghanistan."
The Pentagon press secretary, Geoff Morrell, has confirmed Mr Gates stands by his "fundamental criticism" Nato had to do more to train its troops for counterinsurgency, something he said they had never dealt with before.