The conflict in Afghanistan could sound the "death knell" for Nato, Lord Carrington, the organisation's former secretary general, has said. The former Conservative foreign secretary said Nato's future had been plunged into doubt by the refusal of so many of its members to send troops into the most dangerous areas in the south.He said that it was "dangerous" that only Britain, America, Canada and the Netherlands had been willing to put their troops on the frontline against the Taliban. In an interview with GMTV — which will be broadcast tomorrow — Lord Carrington said that Afghanistan posed a grave threat to the organisation.
"I think it may be the death knell of Nato unless we're very careful," he said. "I think we ought to ask ourselves Â… what on earth Nato is for?"
What a great question. We've been asking that since the Soviet Union went poof in the night.
His concerns were shared by Lord Owen, the former Labour foreign secretary, who accused President Jacques Chirac of France, of undermining Nato. "Chirac's role in helping to destroy Nato, I think, is very considerable, in marked contrast to [the former French president Francois] Mitterrand."
"We can live with the different French view of Nato but I think the way that they are trying to always push European union instead of Nato is going to get the Americans to just say, 'well, to hell with it'."
And they just might succeed.