NATO Ministers To Discuss Libya, Afghanistan, Cyber Defence

NATO defence ministers are to meet in Brussels to discuss on the alliance’s post-2014 operations in Afghanistan, cyber defence and providing Libya with security assistance and training.

The talks came a day after alliance members decided to send a team of experts to Libya “as soon as possible’’ to assess ways of providing assistance, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

The team would report back by the end of June, he added.

The decision follows a request by Libyan Prime Minister, Ali Zeidan, who visited NATO last week.

The task would be to provide Libya with advice in areas such as “building security institutions,’’ Rasmussen said, pointing to NATO’s experience in this field.

He stressed that no troops would be deployed to the North African country.

“If we are to engage in training activities, such activities could take place outside Libya,’’ the NATO chief said.

An attack last September on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which killed the ambassador and three other U.S. citizens, has raised questions about the safety of foreign personnel operating in the country.

Rasmussen said the assistance would be “a fitting way to continue our cooperation with Libya.’’ NATO enforced a no-fly zone to support the popular uprising that toppled the country’s dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011.

On Wednesday, Afghanistan will feature on the agenda, but no decision is likely on the final number of troops and trainers to be stationed in the country after the NATO-led ISAF mission ends in 2014.

The budget for the follow-up operation still remains to be finalised.

The 50 members of ISAF are due to adopt broad guidelines for the post-2014 training and support mission, Rasmussen said.

“The number of troops and trainers will be significantly lower than in the current ISAF mission and it’s also our intention to ensure a regional footprint, that is a number of regional training centres,’’ the NATO chief added.

For the first time, cyber defence will also be on the ministers’ official agenda, allowing them to discuss ways in which NATO could do more to protect individual allies if they come under attack.

“NATO already protects the networks which we own and operate, and we will continue to do so,’’ Rasmussen said.

Days earlier, U.S. Defence Secretary, Chuck Hagel, warned that cyber attacks originating in China were becoming a serious military concern that needed to be addressed urgently and amicably.

France has also stated that cyber attacks could be considered an act of war in its ‘white book’ of defence guidelines issued earlier this year.

But NATO members disagree over the role that the 28-member alliance should play in cyber defence, according to diplomats.

While some smaller members want NATO to play a more decisive role, others believe that bilateral assistance would be more efficient, one diplomat said.