By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
BUCHAREST -- The post-Sept. 11 strategic importance of the Black Sea region, which has served as a staging area for the Afghan war and could be used in an attack on Iraq, has catapulted Romania and Bulgaria into serious consideration for membership in NATO, according to U.S., NATO and East European diplomats.
The two countries are getting favorable consideration despite long-standing concerns in Western capitals about whether they are serious about democratic reform, military readiness and efforts to fight corruption.
With four or five other post-Communist countries all but certain to receive invitations to join the alliance at a summit in Prague in November, NATO is on the threshold of its largest expansion ever.
Determined to be on that list, Bulgaria and Romania are working closely with the United States in the campaign in Afghanistan to show how valuable they can be as military partners. The two countries "are making the best use of this tragic opportunity," the Bulgarian foreign minister, Solomon Pasi, said in an interview here in the Romanian capital.
In November and December, U.S. tanker aircraft based in Bulgaria flew about six missions a day to refuel warplanes in the Afghan theater, according to U.S. and Bulgarian officials.
A Bulgarian military airport in the Black Sea is now a de facto U.S. base with about 200 Americans stationed there (Note of The News editors: this information was refuted by Bulgaria's Defense Ministry).
Both countries have also opened their airspace unconditionally and offered the use of all land and port facilities. Twenty U.S. military flights to or from Afghanistan cross Romania each day, officials here said.
Bulgarian and Romanian troops are serving as peacekeepers in Kabul and the Romanian government has offered a specialized mountain unit for service in Afghanistan. The two countries have each tripled their presence in international peacekeeping missions in the Balkans to free up allied troops for Afghanistan. And a Romanian military facility in the Black Sea city of Constanza is about to become a staging ground for U.S. troops rotating in and out of the Balkans and possibly other theaters, officials said.
"September 11 transformed the Black Sea into a natural springboard," the Romanian foreign minister, Mircea Geoana, said.
And in the rush to impress the Bush administration, viewed as the critical voice in determining the final list of countries invited to join NATO, Romania and Bulgaria are refurbishing airstrips and ports with the implicit promise that if the United States wishes to use them in future campaigns, including in strikes against Iraq, they are available for the asking.
"The next time when [the United States] asks for support, or needs support, Bulgaria will be an excellent ally," said Pasi when asked about Iraq.
Romanian officials echoed his comments.
With Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other countries with U.S. military bases wary of a possible attack on Iraq, the offers have not gone unnoticed in Washington, diplomats said.
U.S. officials continue to say that for the two countries to secure an invitation to join NATO and jettison their image as regional laggards, they must speed political reforms , particularly as regards endemic corruption. The United States and NATO have singled out the countries' treatment of minorities, particularly of the Roma people, also known as gypsies.
In Romania, NATO officials have objected to the erection of statues to commemorate a World War II fascist figure. Romanian officials have pledged to pass legislation allowing them to pull all the statues down.
The United States had been particularly concerned that the countries' military spending is low and that their armed forces cannot "inter-operate" with NATO's. Both countries have boosted their military budgets above 2 percent of their gross domestic products in an effort to accelerate the restructuring process and modernize equipment. At the same time, Romania is slashing the ranks of its top-heavy military and moving to create a professional, non-conscript army by the end of the decade, officials said.
"I'm here to encourage both countries to sprint to the finish line," said Richard L. Armitage, U.S. deputy secretary of state, whose appearance at a summit meeting here today of 10 aspiring NATO countries underlines the seriousness of the Romanian and Bulgarian claims on membership. "The U.S. wants the widest possible and most robust accession."
U.S. and NATO officials appear to have agreed that Slovenia and the three Baltic states -- Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- will get invitations. A fifth country, Slovakia, will also be invited if a former authoritarian leader, Vladimir Meciar, is not returned to power in fall elections.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia, also in attendance at the summit, are not regarded as viable candidates.
But the possibility of seven countries joining NATO, following the 1999 accession of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, is a significant turnaround from just nine months ago. "The big bang is real," said one diplomat from a NATO country. "And I couldn't have imagined it possible because I couldn't imagine September 11."
Russia's role in the anti-terrorism coalition has led it to redefine its relationship with NATO and drop many objections to membership for the Baltic nations, which would become the first former members of the Soviet Union to be added to the Western alliance.
In an unlikely coalition, Turkey and Greece have united behind the candidacies of Romania and Bulgaria, arguing that expansion in the alliance's south is critical for security reasons because of transnational crime and continued instability in places such as Macedonia.
"There was a lack of dialogue between Greece and Turkey," said Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. But now "we have interests -- the preservation of the stability of the region." NATO expansion, he said, cannot be limited to northern and central Europe.
The foreign ministers of the four southern countries are planning a joint trip to Washington to press the case of Romania and Bulgaria.
The region remains a corridor for trafficking in weapons, drugs, cigarettes, illegal migrants and women sold into sexual slavery. And the level of criminality has been facilitated by rampant corruption, U.S. and NATO officials said.
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