NATO’s Afghan mission hit by ‘mission creep,’ official says

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Assistant Secretary-General for Operations John Manza says the military organization’s security operation in Afghanistan became a victim of “mission creep” that bogged it down in the country. The man leading the process of learning lessons from almost 20-years of operations says that NATO allowed itself to be dragged into the effort to rebuild the impoverished, conflict-torn country. Manza told EU lawmakers Wednesday how NATO’s Afghan effort grew from 5,000 troops in 2003 to over 100,000 in 2009. He says that even though the international community did not appear to be achieving its goals, “our response to the poor progress … was to do more.” Manza’s due to submit his report on lessons learned to NATO foreign ministers when they meet on Nov. 30-Dec. 1.