BELGIUM: The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, has said that Washington will not accept a European Union military planning unit that would duplicate arrangements at Nato.
Speaking in Brussels before a meeting of EU and Nato foreign ministers, Mr Powell adopted a harsher tone on the issue than that used by the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, earlier this week.
"The United States cannot accept independent EU structures that duplicate existing Nato capabilities," he said.
Diplomats said that the proposed EU military planning cell was not discussed at the EU-Nato meeting, but Mr Powell is believed to have raised it privately with his French and German counterparts.
France, Germany and Britain are backing a plan, expected to be approved by all EU leaders next week, to create a small planning cell at the EU's military headquarters in Brussels. Washington fears that the unit, which would plan EU operations mounted independently of Nato, could be an embryonic alternative structure to Nato's planning staff.
"The United States supports a European security and defence policy that improves Europe's capabilities to act and develops in a way that is fully co-ordinated, compatible and transparent with Nato," Mr Powell said.
Mr Powell urged Nato foreign ministers to approve a role for the alliance in the reconstruction of Iraq, where it currently provides only indirect support.
"The United States welcomes a greater Nato role in Iraq's stabilisation," he said.
He added: "As we prepare for the Istanbul summit [of Nato next June\] we urge the alliance to examine how it might do more to support peace and stability in Iraq."
Mr Powell said later that none of the Nato ministers had opposed the idea, but some of the alliance's 19 member-states, including Germany, have already ruled out sending soldiers to Iraq.
France and Germany have made it clear that they would insist on a stronger role for the UN, an invitation from a legitimate Iraqi body and a role independent of the US-British occupying authority before agreeing to Nato involvement in Iraq.
The EU-Nato meeting, which was described by officials as brief and harmonious, discussed the EU's plan to take over the Nato-led peacekeeping mission in Bosnia next year.
Meanwhile, Nato has agreed to expand its role in Afghanistan beyond Kabul, but no action will be taken until a new UN Security Council resolution authorises it.
"We must . . . consider the possibility of Nato taking over all military operations in Afghanistan at some point in the future," Mr Powell said after meeting the Nato foreign ministers.