Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Too Early to Muse about Pullout from Afghanistan : NATO

Too Early to Muse about  Pullout from Afghanistan : NATO

The current situation in Afghanistan is still difficult, says the NATO secretary-general, who has New Zealand’s cooperation in the war-torn country.
WELLINGTON - At a joint news conference with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the NATO headquarters on Friday, Jen Stoltenberg appreciated Wellington’s role in Afghanistan.
“We welcome very much the close partnership … We see that in Afghanistan where we have been working together for many years,” the secretary-general added.
New Zealand has contributed with personnel to the National Army Defence Academy, helping to train and educate Afghan soldiers, he was quoted as saying in a statement from NATO.
Stoltenberg said the objective behind NATO’s presence in Afghanistan was to prevent the country from once again becoming a safe haven for international terrorism.
“It’s still a difficult situation in Afghanistan, but we strongly believe that the best way to help to stabilise the country is to train the forces, build local capacity so they can stabilize their own country.”
Stoltenberg acknowledged New Zealand was supporting the NATO mission in Afghanistan, saying the alliance had many partners working together in the war-torn country.
He said the alliance wanted to make sure Afghanistan did not once again become a safe haven for international terrorism. “We saw the consequences back in 2001, when the 9/11 attacks on the United States were organised and planned, from Afghanistan.”
Not many years ago, the alliance had been part of a big combat operation, with more than 100,000 troops in a combat effort in Afghanistan, the secretary general continued.
“But the Resolute Support, which New Zealand is contributing to, is a train, assist and advice mission, helps the Afghans stabilise their own country and the Afghans are now taking over responsibility for security.
“And we highly value the contribution from New Zealand; the personnel from New Zealand are very committed, they are playing a key role in helping to educate and to build a national defence academy. And that’s the best way to help Afghanistan, and that is to help them develop their own forces, so they can create security in their own country themselves.”
In response to a query, he said NATO strongly supported efforts for a peaceful and negotiated solution to the crisis in Afghanistan. “We welcome the initiative taken by President Ghani and we welcome also talks between the US and the Taliban, and we hope that that can lead towards a process which includes, of course, the Afghan government.
“The way NATO supports those efforts is to support the Afghan government: political support, practical support, and also through our military presence, because the purpose of our military presence in Afghanistan is to send a message to the Taliban that they will not win on the battlefield. So, they have to sit down at the negotiating table and find a political solution.”
He believed a political solution, a peace agreement in Afghanistan, would also address the issue of the presence of troops from other countries, including NATO. However, he explained, it was much too early to speculate exactly what kind of consequences that would have.
“We are ready to continue a partnership, cooperation with Afghanistan and our presence is conditions-based and of course, a new peace agreement will have an important consequence for NATO presence in Afghanistan.” (Pajhwok)