BRUSSELS (SW): Reconfirming its enduring commitment to Afghanistan, NATO has confirmed to increase its support for the Afghan security forces.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told journalists after the final working session of a meeting of Allied defence ministers at NATO Headquarters in Brussels that the NATO’s Resolute Support Mission helps train, assist and advise the Afghans to make their country more secure, and ensures it never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists. Stoltenberg said several NATO Allies and partners had committed to increase their troop levels, and he underlined how the Alliance would continue to strengthen its political partnership and practical cooperation with Afghanistan.
He praised the Afghan security forces, saying: “every day they demonstrate bravery and resilience, leading the fight to defeat terrorists and protect their people”, he said, adding the security situation on the ground remains extremely challenging. “We have recently seen brutal attacks in Kabul. In recent months, hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed. This is exactly why our presence is so important. So today, we reconfirmed our enduring commitment to Afghanistan. We will sustain our Resolute Support Mission beyond 2017”.
Ministers discussed the significant progress being made on burden sharing in the Alliance, with the third consecutive year of accelerating defence investment across European Allies and Canada, amounting to almost US $46 billion. Ministers also had talks on increased NATO presence in eastern and south-eastern Europe; NATO-EU cooperation; cyber defence and the fight against terrorism.
This has allowed us to shift from a large-scale combat force of over 100,000 NATO troops to our current training mission of around 13,000.
Stoltenberg confirmed NATO will increase our presence in Afghanistan. At a force generation conference earlier this month, fifteen nations pledged additional contributions to Resolute Support. “We also got some more announcements and pledges during the meeting today. We will also continue funding the Afghan Security Forces through 2020 and we will continue to strengthen our political partnership and practical cooperation with Afghanistan”, he said
About terrorists’’ sanctuaries inside Pakistan, he said NATO has regular engagements with Pakistan, military dialogue and political dialogue and of course, NATO and many NATO allies and especially the United States have addressed several times the importance also of addressing the sanctuaries of terrorist groups, the Taliban, the Al Qaeda network in Pakistan. “So that has to be addressed as part of the solution to the conflict and the problems in Afghanistan”.
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