NATO to send more copters

MONS (Belgium)—NATO chiefs acknowledged on Wednesday the military alliance is short of the helicopters urgently sought by Pakistan to bring relief to victims of the devastating Oct. 8 Kashmir earthquake.
NATO last week set up an airbridge to deliver tonnes of relief aid from Europe to Pakistan, and is now studying how to offer more help. One key need highlighted by Islamabad is helicopters, vital to reaching many victims in remote areas.
“We understand Pakistan is in need of light helicopters — we have very few of those,” US Vice Admiral John Stufflebeem, who commands the 17,000-strong NATO rapid reaction force, told a news briefing.
The US soldier in charge of all NATO’s military operations said the alliance had long faced difficulties in convincing its 26 members to come forward with expensive-to-run helicopters.
“Helicopters have been a real problem for us to generate, not only for Pakistan but also for Afghanistan,” Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones told the briefing at NATO’s military headquarters in southern Belgium.
He was referring to earlier trouble in raising equipment for NATO’s peacekeeping force in Pakistan’s neighbour. “Having said that, if it is judged by the authorities and the operational commander that we need them, we shall certainly request them,” Jones added. NATO envoys are expected to decide by Friday on the level of new help to be offered to Pakistan.
No numbers have been officially announced yet, but several sources in the alliance said earlier this week there was a push to raise dozens of helicopters. Washington unilaterally said last week it expected to have 40 of its military helicopters on the ground in coming weeks. Germany has already sent two of its helicopters. With many roads ruined, helicopters have been the best way of getting aid into the mountains. But with too few available, the aid effort is relying on slower means, such as mules. Its lack of helicopters and the lengthy decision-making processes it must go through have raised doubts over whether NATO can take on the rapid humanitarian relief tasks which many in the alliance believe it must offer. But Jones disagreed.
“The NATO nations have a lot of experience in humanitarian operations,” he said, citing past missions such as airdrops it carried out in war-hit Bosnia during the 1990s. “There is quite a bit of evidence that NATO knows how to do this. We can do it, and we can do it well, by air or by sea”.—INP