26 February 2002

Rumsfeld Details Coalition's Military Contributions, Closes OSI

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for the first time, said that 68 nations are making material contributions to the anti-terrorism effort in Afghanistan.

Previously, the Pentagon had deferred mentioning contributions from other nations, allowing those contributors to publicize their own efforts, he said at a Pentagon briefing February 26.

The effort includes 17,000 troops deployed by 17 governments to the Afghanistan region, he said. That includes 12 countries that have contributed over 2,800 personnel to ground operations; eight countries contributing more than 1,500 personnel to air operations; eight countries contributing more than 13,000 personnel to naval operations; and eight countries contributing over 350 people to civil operations in Afghanistan, the secretary said.

Rumsfeld gave the following partial account:

• Australia: Special operations forces are in Afghanistan;

• Bahrain: One warship, a frigate;

• Canada: 2,200 land, air and naval personnel, including a light infantry battle group of 700;

• Czech Republic: Over 250 personnel deployed in Kuwait for local training and management support;

• Italy: An aircraft carrier battle group;

• Jordan: A field hospital in Mazar-I Sharif;

• Republic of Korea: Air transport of more than 45 tons of relief supplies, plus $45 million pledged for reconstruction aid;

• Spain: A field hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan;

• United Arab Emirates: Airlifts of humanitarian assistance supplies into Central Asia; and

• United Kingdom: A naval task force, aircraft, mine-clearance personnel, and leadership of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"In short, the war on terrorism is truly a global struggle, and it affects all nations," said Rumsfeld.

PENTAGON WILL CLOSE OFFICE OF STRATEGIC INFORMATION

Rumsfeld said he had talked on the morning of February 26 with Defense Under Secretary for Policy Doug Feith, and that Feith had decided to close the Office of Strategic Information.

"[N]otwithstanding the fact that much of the thrust of the criticism ... has been off the mark, the office has clearly been so damaged that ... it's pretty clear to me that it could not function effectively. So it's being closed down," Rumsfeld said. [The office had been criticized because of allegations that it would engage in disinformation campaigns with foreign audiences as part of its overall public affairs work.]

Asked whether the Pentagon's credibility had suffered because of the controversy, Rumsfeld said, "I doubt it. I hope not. If it has, we'll rebuild it." But he again refuted the allegations that disinformation was to be part of the office's portfolio.

"[R]egardless if something may or may not have been discussed down at a lower level, this department is not going to do ... [disinformation]. ... We will not do it; we are not doing it now, and we will not in the future," Rumsfeld said. The existing public affairs effort of the Defense Department will be carried on by existing offices, he said.