MONITORING (SW) \u2013 The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said the Alliance would decide on the troop\u2019s level in Afghanistan in the coming month.<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of a virtual address to German Christian Social Union (CSU) parliamentarians on Wednesday, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained that 2021 will be a crucial year for NATO. At a press point with Alexander Dobrindt, Chairman of the CSU Parliamentary Group, Stoltenberg praised Allied armed forces for supporting civilian efforts to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Stoltenberg also made clear that 2021 will be a year of decisions for Afghanistan. \u00a0He welcomed the ongoing peace talks:\u00a0\u201cThere are many challenges, and many uncertainties, but of course, peace talks are the only path to peace, the only way forward to a peaceful negotiated solution. We support those efforts.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Stoltenberg added that NATO Defence Ministers will assess the future of NATO\u2019s mission in Afghanistan in February.<\/p>\n
The Secretary General also stated that 2021 will be an important year for arms control and non-proliferation. He said:\u00a0\u201cWe need to make sure when the new START agreement expires next month that we don\u2019t end up with a situation where there is no agreement regulating the number of nuclear warheads.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said there is a price if the Allies decide to stay, but there will also be a price if it is decided to leave the war-ridden country.<\/p>\n
Last month, in his remarks ahead of the meetings of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Stoltenberg said the price of staying is continued military involvement in Afghanistan, a price in treasure and in blood and the price of leaving is the risk of jeopardizing the gains made.<\/p>\n
The NATO Secretary General said in his phone call with President-elect Joe Biden, he underlined the importance of Afghanistan and \u2018the dilemma\u2019 the Alliance faces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main issue is that in the US-Taliban agreement, it is stated that all international troops, also NATO troops, should be out of Afghanistan by 1 May. That\u2019s the reason why we are now faced with a very clear decision, a very difficult choice to be made, which actually represents a dilemma for all of us\u201d, said Stoltenberg.<\/p>\n
The U.S. inked a peace deal with the Taliban in February last year that calls for withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan against security guarantees by the insurgents.<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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