MONITORING (SW) – The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned the price for leaving Afghanistan too soon or in an uncoordinated way could be very high.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, he said he is in close contact with the US, as well as all other Allies as regards the mission in Afghanistan. “NATO went into Afghanistan after an attack on the United States to ensure that it would never again be a safe haven for international terrorists”, he said.
He said Afghanistan risks becoming once again a platform for international terrorists to plan and organize attacks, and ISIS could rebuild in Afghanistan the terror caliphate it lost in Syria and Iraq.
“NATO Allies support the peace process in Afghanistan. As part of this process, we have already significantly adjusted our presence. And we have repeatedly said that we will continue to review our troop levels. We now have under 12,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, and more than half of these are non-US forces. Even with further US reductions, NATO will continue its mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces. We are also committed to funding them through 2024”, said the NATO Secretary General.
“We went into Afghanistan together. And when the time is right, we should leave together in a coordinated and orderly way. I count on all NATO allies to live up to this commitment, for our own security”, he added.
Meanwhile, Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani told a press conference that over 90 per cent of security operations across Afghanistan are carried out by the Afghan forces.
END
