At a two-day summit that ended on Tuesday in Istanbul, Turkey, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) approved the Istanbul Cooperative Initiative. 

The NATO leaders agreed to work together with nations of the broader Middle East to "fight terrorism, to control their borders, and to aid victims of disaster."

One of the visible tasks is to help train Iraqi security forces.

NATO is expected to take a more active role in the affairs of the Middle East, particularly after taking command of peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan last August.

As a relic of the Cold War, NATO's military muscle was intended to take care of Europe. Today its extended role beyond Europe, without United Nations approval, is counter-productive.

For US President George W. Bush and his hawkish colleagues, who have remained the target of domestic and overseas condemnations since the outbreak of war in Iraq, NATO's belated nod for involvement demonstrates to the world they are no longer in an isolated position in Iraq.

NATO's promise will also make the US-led alliance share the heavy burden of helping maintain peace and stability in the ravaged country.

The Bush administration has implored a direct role for NATO in post-war Iraq to boost US efforts to curb the country's deteriorating security situation.

Despite NATO's agreement to offer training to Iraqi armed forces, differences still exist between the United States and key NATO members over the scope of NATO's involvement in the mission.

The United States urged a major involvement of the military group in Iraq, including the establishment of an alliance command in the country.

France and Germany, two NATO members that were strongly opposed to the US war in Iraq, only advocate a low-profile operation, with NATO merely playing a coordinating role for Iraqi training programs.

The two countries also said they will not dispatch any military personnel to Iraq and will only help with training security forces outside Iraq.

French President Jacques Chirac said he is against any collective NATO presence on the ground in Iraq.

Obviously, NATO's offer to train Iraqi troops falls short of the US hope that the alliance would deploy its own personnel to help restore order.

The latest impasse between the US and its European allies indicates that their damaged relations in the wake of the Iraq War are far from restored.

(China Daily July 1, 2004)