Britain will propose creating a NATO rapid deployment force to defend mainland Europe while alliance troops serve further afield, in an effort to persuade member states to do more in Afghanistan, according to Reuters. British Defence Secretary John Hutton will propose the 3,000-strong force today at a meeting of fellow NATO ministers in the Polish city of Krakow, his spokeswoman said. Hutton told Thursday's edition of the Financial Times that the force would reassure NATO's East European members, in particular the Baltic states, which were alarmed by Russia's incursion into Georgia last year. "I hope it might make it easier for NATO to do more in Afghanistan, certain in the knowledge that there is a dedicated homeland security force that will have no other call on its priorities (other) than European homeland security," Hutton was quoted as telling the paper.
