Last Friday SHAPE’s Chief of Staff, General Karl-Heinz Lather, spoke to about 20 international media representatives about NATO’s operations following the Bucharest Summit. The general talked about NATO enlargement, his views about the future of Kosovo, and the current situation for ISAF in Afghanistan.

The general spoke about the necessity of stamping out transnational terrorism so it can’t return to Afghanistan. He also reiterated our Ops staff analysis (posted on this blog February 4) that “seventy percent of the security incidents last year, 2007, occurred in only 10% of the 396 districts in Afghanistan. These districts are home to only 6% of the Afghan population.”

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From time to time the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, who is dual-hatted as the Commander of all US forces in Europe, gives an operational update to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

On March 11 General Craddock appeared in front of the Committee and spoke about NATO enlargement, NATO’s mission in Afghanistan and its relationship with the US-led coalition forces of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. He went into detail about ISAF’s campaign progress, touching on operations, the Combined Joint Statement of Requirements and national caveats, Afghan National Security Forces, supporting reconstruction and development, counter narcotics and strategic communications.

The testimony is on the Senate website. It’s a 19-page document and you can read it by clicking here.

Here’s a new video produced by the ACO Imagery Section. It explains what OMLTs are, what their mission is, and their importance to NATO’s overall effort in Afghanistan. It runs a little under four minutes and is about 21 MB. Click here to check it out.