NATO, anticipating Kadhafi demise, eyes Libya's future

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BRUSSELS: Confident that the Libyan regime's days are numbered, NATO will ask defence ministers on Wednesday to step up contributions to deliver a knock-out punch and plan for a post-Moamer Kadhafi world.

With NATO fighting in two continents, the ministers meeting for two days of talks in Brussels will discuss the nearly three-month-old air war in Libya as well as the nearly 10-year-old ground battle in Afghanistan.

Although Kadhafi still controls much of western Libya including his Tripoli stronghold, NATO says it is only a matter of time before he goes and it has increased the pressure with daily strikes on Tripoli to hasten that day.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen plans to ask allies that have taken a backseat to contribute more in order to finish the job after the mission was extended by another 90 days through late September.

"I think that for the sustainability of our operation, it is essential to ensure a support for our operation that is as broad as possible," Rasmussen said on Monday.

After 10,000 sorties and round-the-clock flights since March 31, a senior US official said he did not see "any dangers yet" of capabilities dropping off, but he acknowledged that crews are "getting tired" while the cost of bombs and maintaining aircraft are increasing.

Only eight of the alliance's 28 members, plus non-NATO partner the United Arab Emirates, have conducted air strikes. Others take part in other aspects of the mission, but around a dozen have not contributed any assets.

France and Britain, which have carried out the bulk of the air raids, added helicopters to the arsenal at the weekend in a bid to increase the pressure on Kadhafi's regime.

A high-ranking NATO military official said the alliance estimates that between half to 80 percent of Kadhafi's command and control centres have been destroyed.

But pushing for Kadhafi's departure as a precondition for any political solution could backfire and prolong the war in Libya, the International Crisis Group think thank said, adding that priority should be on securing an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between the regime and the rebels.

NATO, however, has vowed to keep pounding the Kadhafi regime as long as civilians are threatened and is already thinking about what role it will have the day after the veteran strongman falls, as it predicts he inevitably will. (AFP)