WASHINGTON, February 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - At a meeting Thursday, February 20, with NATO Secretary General George Robertson, Secretary of State Colin Powell floated the idea that the alliance play a much more "active role" in the operations of an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

Just days after NATO ended a bitter, month-long dispute over military aid to Turkey in the event of war on neighboring Iraq, Powell proposed the idea, saying he was "very pleased that NATO is willing to play this more forward-leaning role".

He praised it as "a sign of the vitality of the alliance and the continuing relevance of the alliance," reported the Washington Post on Friday, February 21.

Robertson told reporters afterward that NATO would consider a greater role in Afghanistan "because we're interested in stability."

He noted that two NATO members, Germany and the Netherlands, currently command the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) with logistical support from NATO.

NATO's relevance had been threatened for weeks when Germany, France and Belgium blocked a formal request by fellow member Turkey for military aid to protect it in the event of a U.S.-led war with Iraq.

The three nations, which oppose U.S. plans for an invasion if Iraq, saw the defense of Turkey as endorsing "the logic of war" without an authorizing resolution by U.N. Security Council.

NATO finally broke the deadlock by moving the discussion to the alliance's 18-member Defense Planning Committee, which does not include France.

By then, Germany and Belgium had given in to pressure from Roberston and others.

The committee's decision Sunday allowed NATO to begin deploying AWACS radar surveillance planes, Patriot missile and chemical and biological defense units in Turkey.

During a speech Thursday at the European Institute, Robertson said NATO had been damaged by the deadlock over Turkey's defense.

"But this is damage above, not below, the waterline," he said, "because the alliance, now coming through a crisis which could have been profoundly damaging, is in much better shape than the pundits would allow."

Ivo H. Daalder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said he found it "very odd" that Powell would float the NATO peacekeeping idea in the immediate aftermath of a crisis in the alliance triggered by the Bush administration's hawkish stance toward Iraq.

"To suggest that the U.S. feels there might be other missions for NATO at this time might not sit too well," Daalder said.

On the other hand, he added, NATO control over the Afghan mission is "not a bad idea," since NATO has already performed planning duties for Germany and the Netherlands before they assumed command of the peacekeeping force.

Last year, NATO ended a decade of wrangling over "out of area" operations and agreed that, with threats shifting away from Europe and the United States, it must deploy forces beyond its members' borders.

One senior administration official said an expanded role for NATO could mean anything from greater assistance than it now provides to the alliance actually taking over the peacekeeping mission.

Daalder said he hoped a greater NATO role would mean extending the peacekeeping mission beyond the Afghan capital and expanding the force.

But he questioned whether NATO has the resources to mount a major peacekeeping effort in Afghanistan and contribute to similar operations in postwar Iraq.