Posted on Jul 10, 2016
NATO leaders to keep troop levels in Afghanistan stable
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WARSAW, Poland — NATO allies agreed Saturday to do more to help countries in North Africa and the Middle East that are targets of Islamic extremism, including using NATO surveillance planes in the fight against the Islamic State group.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said alliance leaders also agreed to launch a new naval mission in the Mediterranean, and made commitments to maintain a stable military presence in Afghanistan and to fund Afghan security forces through 2020.
"Today we have taken decisions to strengthen our partners and to project stability beyond our borders," Stoltenberg told reporters on the second day of a crucial NATO summit in Warsaw. He said millions of people in Africa and the Middle East have been rendered "homeless and helpless" by radical organizations like IS and that the extremist groups are also to blame for organizing terrorist attacks in Europe's streets.
In response, Stoltenberg said NATO will start a training and capacity-building mission for Iraqi armed forces in Iraq and provide assistance for Jordan. It will also establish a new intelligence center in Tunisia to help special operations forces in the North African nation, which is a major recruiting ground for IS.
Stoltenberg said President Obama and leaders of the other 27 NATO countries also agreed in principle for alliance surveillance aircraft to provide direct support to the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq. NATO diplomats say they expect flights by alliance AWACS planes to begin this fall.
The NATO chief said the alliance will also launch a new maritime operation in the Mediterranean, Operation Sea Guardian, and cooperate closely with the European Union's efforts to halt human smuggling operations that have fueled Europe's greatest migrant crisis since World War II.
Obama had been urging his fellow NATO leaders in Warsaw to expand their support for the war in Afghanistan against the Taliban. Meanwhile, violence in the U.S. led him to cut his Europe trip short so he can return home Sunday.
The U.S. has pledged to provide $3.5 billion annually to fund Afghan forces, and the government in Kabul is expected to contribute as much as $500 million. Allies would provide the remaining $1 billion. The funding would maintain a total of 352,000 Afghan Army troops and police officers.
"We are very close and I am certain we will reach that (funding) level," Stoltenberg told reporters. A senior U.S. administration official said NATO has commitments for about 90 percent of the goal.
Stoltenberg said it's too soon to say exactly how many troops allies will agree to keep in Afghanistan under NATO's Resolute Support training and advisory mission. But he said he believed that, based on commitments made Saturday, force levels will remain largely stable. Specific numbers will be finalized this fall, he said.
U.S. administration officials said they believe the number of forces dedicated to the NATO mission will be a bit more than 12,000, and the U.S. has pledged about 6,700 of that total. The officials were not authorized to discuss the details publicly, so spoke on condition of anonymity.
Earlier this week, Obama announced that overall he would keep 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, rather than cut their numbers to 5,500 as he once planned. In addition to taking part in the NATO advisory-and-assist mission, the U.S. has special operations forces in the country that conduct counterterrorism missions.
The planned force levels allow NATO allies to remain in regional hubs around Afghanistan, with Germany in the north, Italy in the west, Turkey in the capital of Kabul and the United States in the east and south.
The Warsaw summit, NATO's first in two years, is considered by many to be the alliance's most important since the Cold War. Stoltenberg says NATO, founded in 1949, needs to adapt to confront an array of new threats to its member nations' security, including cyberattacks and violence sparked by radical organizations like IS.
On Friday, NATO leaders approved the deployment of four multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states to deter Russia, as well as a Romanian-Bulgarian brigade for the Black Sea region. Germany will lead a multinational battalion in Lithuania, with similar battalions to be led by the United States in Poland, Britain in Estonia and Canada in Latvia.
Those moves were strongly criticized Saturday by Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet president during the Cold War.
"NATO has begun preparations for escalating from the Cold War into a hot one," Gorbachev was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "All the rhetoric in Warsaw just yells of a desire almost to declare war on Russia. They only talk about defense, but actually are preparing for offensive operations."
The White House, meanwhile, announced Obama would cut his Europe trip short by one day in the wake of the attack in Dallas that killed five police officers and wounded seven others during protests over fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Obama will attend meetings in Warsaw on Saturday before heading to Spain for meetings with Spanish leaders and a visit with U.S. troops.
He returns to Washington on Sunday and will visit Dallas early next week at the request of Mayor Mike Rawlings.
Vanessa Gera in Warsaw assisted.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said alliance leaders also agreed to launch a new naval mission in the Mediterranean, and made commitments to maintain a stable military presence in Afghanistan and to fund Afghan security forces through 2020.
"Today we have taken decisions to strengthen our partners and to project stability beyond our borders," Stoltenberg told reporters on the second day of a crucial NATO summit in Warsaw. He said millions of people in Africa and the Middle East have been rendered "homeless and helpless" by radical organizations like IS and that the extremist groups are also to blame for organizing terrorist attacks in Europe's streets.
In response, Stoltenberg said NATO will start a training and capacity-building mission for Iraqi armed forces in Iraq and provide assistance for Jordan. It will also establish a new intelligence center in Tunisia to help special operations forces in the North African nation, which is a major recruiting ground for IS.
Stoltenberg said President Obama and leaders of the other 27 NATO countries also agreed in principle for alliance surveillance aircraft to provide direct support to the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq. NATO diplomats say they expect flights by alliance AWACS planes to begin this fall.
The NATO chief said the alliance will also launch a new maritime operation in the Mediterranean, Operation Sea Guardian, and cooperate closely with the European Union's efforts to halt human smuggling operations that have fueled Europe's greatest migrant crisis since World War II.
Obama had been urging his fellow NATO leaders in Warsaw to expand their support for the war in Afghanistan against the Taliban. Meanwhile, violence in the U.S. led him to cut his Europe trip short so he can return home Sunday.
The U.S. has pledged to provide $3.5 billion annually to fund Afghan forces, and the government in Kabul is expected to contribute as much as $500 million. Allies would provide the remaining $1 billion. The funding would maintain a total of 352,000 Afghan Army troops and police officers.
"We are very close and I am certain we will reach that (funding) level," Stoltenberg told reporters. A senior U.S. administration official said NATO has commitments for about 90 percent of the goal.
Stoltenberg said it's too soon to say exactly how many troops allies will agree to keep in Afghanistan under NATO's Resolute Support training and advisory mission. But he said he believed that, based on commitments made Saturday, force levels will remain largely stable. Specific numbers will be finalized this fall, he said.
U.S. administration officials said they believe the number of forces dedicated to the NATO mission will be a bit more than 12,000, and the U.S. has pledged about 6,700 of that total. The officials were not authorized to discuss the details publicly, so spoke on condition of anonymity.
Earlier this week, Obama announced that overall he would keep 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, rather than cut their numbers to 5,500 as he once planned. In addition to taking part in the NATO advisory-and-assist mission, the U.S. has special operations forces in the country that conduct counterterrorism missions.
The planned force levels allow NATO allies to remain in regional hubs around Afghanistan, with Germany in the north, Italy in the west, Turkey in the capital of Kabul and the United States in the east and south.
The Warsaw summit, NATO's first in two years, is considered by many to be the alliance's most important since the Cold War. Stoltenberg says NATO, founded in 1949, needs to adapt to confront an array of new threats to its member nations' security, including cyberattacks and violence sparked by radical organizations like IS.
On Friday, NATO leaders approved the deployment of four multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states to deter Russia, as well as a Romanian-Bulgarian brigade for the Black Sea region. Germany will lead a multinational battalion in Lithuania, with similar battalions to be led by the United States in Poland, Britain in Estonia and Canada in Latvia.
Those moves were strongly criticized Saturday by Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet president during the Cold War.
"NATO has begun preparations for escalating from the Cold War into a hot one," Gorbachev was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "All the rhetoric in Warsaw just yells of a desire almost to declare war on Russia. They only talk about defense, but actually are preparing for offensive operations."
The White House, meanwhile, announced Obama would cut his Europe trip short by one day in the wake of the attack in Dallas that killed five police officers and wounded seven others during protests over fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Obama will attend meetings in Warsaw on Saturday before heading to Spain for meetings with Spanish leaders and a visit with U.S. troops.
He returns to Washington on Sunday and will visit Dallas early next week at the request of Mayor Mike Rawlings.
Vanessa Gera in Warsaw assisted.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NATO leaders to keep troop levels in Afghanistan stable
Posted from armytimes.comPosted in these groups: NATO
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Posted >1 y ago
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I am glad that NATO has not deserted Afghanistan SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL. I realize it may well take many generations for Afghanistan to transition - they have made some progress in transitioning from the warlord feudal society they had up through the 20th century when the Taliban came to power.
I hope the Afghan people will move towards democracy and freedom of expression over the next few years and that the bulk will reject the Taliban and violence as a solution.
I hope the Afghan people will move towards democracy and freedom of expression over the next few years and that the bulk will reject the Taliban and violence as a solution.
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