WARSAW (SW): The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed the alliance’s resolve on Friday to protect and defend all allies, including Afghanistan in the new and more challenging security environment.
He said this at the launch of Warsaw Summit in the Polish Capital that would see heads of states and governments from the NATO’s member and allied nations confer over a range of issues for two back to back days. He remarked that decisive decisions would be taken during the Summit on matters associated with the security of the member states. Jens Stoltenberg noted that a number of regional headquarters have been established in Eastern Europe to ensure security of the member nations.
On Afghanistan, he said that NATO remains committed to training, assisting and advising the Afghan forces. He said that NATO would also put together a financing package to sustain the support through 2020. He went on to say that the alliance expects the heads of member states to make three important decisions on Afghanistan. He marked them as continued military presence in Afghanistan combined with the train, assist and advise comment (TAAC) for the Afghan forces; decision on continued funding for the Afghan forces; and thirdly to reconfirm their long-term political partnership with Afghanistan.
The NATO Secretary General said all these decisions are vital for Afghanistan’s stability and counter-terrorism efforts, which would not allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for international terrorism again. He welcomed the efforts by the Afghan government to engage with Pakistan and other countries in the region to enable a peace process and reconciliation.
On the sidelines of the Summit, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met with the Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland. In this meeting, President Duda agreed to extend the term of the Polish forces in Afghanistan. President Ghani and Chief Executive Officer, Abdullah Abdullah, are also scheduled to meet with the US President Barack Obama to confer over wide range of topics like security, political issues, achievements of the National Unity Government, electoral reforms and reaffirmation of the US and the NATO’s support.
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