Security situation in Afghanistan remains very difficult: Stoltenberg

KABUL (Pajhwok): NATO Secretary Gen. Jens Stoltenberg has said that the security situation in Afghanistan remained “very difficult and challenging.”

Addressing a press conference in Brussels, Stoltenberg said that the decision to withdraw NATO troops entails risks, but also to stay, “we’d have implemented risks for our Alliance with more fighting, potentially more fighting, more and more casualties, and even the need to maybe increase the number of troops.”

Stoltenberg said, “So therefore, we made the decision to end our mission within weeks. I think we have to understand that the intention was never to stay in Afghanistan forever.”

He added that over the last years, NATO had gradually reduced its presence in Afghanistan from more than 100,000 troops to around 10,000 troops at the beginning of this year and that currently it would go down to zero in the military mission.

“But as we end our military mission, we are stepping up our support to Afghanistan in other ways. First of all, we will maintain our civilian presence in Afghanistan to provide advice and capacity building to the Afghan security institutions,” he said.

He reiterated, “We will fund the Afghan Security Forces, make sure that we are allocating significant amounts of money to the Afghan Security Forces.”

“We will also provide; we are planning to provide out-of-country training for the Afghan Security Forces. And we are also now working on how we can sustain critical infrastructure. For instance, the airport provides support to the running of the airport and other critical infrastructure, which is important for the continued presence of the international community in Afghanistan,” he added.

Stoltenberg said that Afghan forces were currently responsible for the security in their own country.

“At some stage the Afghans have to take full responsibility, responsibility for their own future,” he said. “And I’m impressed by the strength and the courage of the Afghan security forces and knowing that there are risks, challenges, but also that’s exactly why we will continue to provide support to them.”

Sa