MONITORING ( SW) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said the Alliance remained committed to keep funding and maintaining civilian presence in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of troops.
He made the remarks after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Affairs.
“We will maintain our civilian presence in Kabul to provide advice and capacity building for the Afghan security institutions. We will continue to provide funding, and in our meeting today several Allies stated clearly that they are committed to the decisions we have already made to provide funding. And we will also help to support the Afghan Security Forces, by now working on how we can provide out-of-country training, especially for the Afghan Special Operation Forces”, he added.
Stoltenberg said work was underway on how to support critical infrastructure including the continued running of the International Airport.
“This is of course important for NATO, and NATO and civilian staff in Kabul, but also for the overall larger international community, and we are addressing issues now related to security and other issues, including funding. So we are working on all these issues and I welcome the message from allies in this meeting today, that they are committed to the decisions we made when we decided to end the operation and that we will find other ways to provide support to the Afghans”, he said.
Meanwhile, the process to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan by September is up to 44% complete, Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Tuesday.
The military gave the range between 30 -44% due to security concerns amid the pullout. CENTCOM said 300 C-17 cargo planes of material have departed Afghanistan while 13,000 pieces of equipment have been marked for destruction.
An additional military facility has been handed over to Afghan forces in the past week, bringing the total to six. CENTCOM said it expected “additional transfers of bases and military assets in the future” to bolster Afghan forces.
ENDS
