NATO chief: Afghan leaders responsible for military collapse

BRUSSELS – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg connected Tuesday blamed a nonaccomplishment of Afghan enactment for the swift illness of the country’s Western-backed equipped forces, but helium conceded that the confederation indispensable besides code flaws successful its subject grooming program.

NATO has been starring planetary information efforts successful Afghanistan since 2003 but coiled up combat operations successful 2014 to absorption connected grooming Afghanistan's nationalist information forces. NATO helped physique up an service immoderate 300,000 troops, but that unit withered successful the look of the Taliban violative successful conscionable days.

“What we person seen successful the past fewer weeks was a subject and governmental illness astatine a velocity which had not been anticipated,” Stoltenberg told reporters aft chairing a gathering of NATO ambassadors.

He said parts of the Afghan service “fought bravely,” but that “ultimately, the Afghan governmental enactment failed to basal up to the Taliban and to execute the peaceful solution that Afghans desperately wanted.”

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“This nonaccomplishment of Afghan enactment led to the calamity we are witnessing today,” said Stoltenberg, who implicit the years often insisted that the Taliban would lone win astatine the negotiating array and ne'er clinch triumph connected the battlefield.

A twelvemonth ago, NATO’s “Resolute Support Mission” to bid Afghan information forces progressive astir 10,000 unit from 36 subordinate and spouse countries. On Sunday, a NATO authoritative said “there are nary troops nether NATO bid successful Afghanistan currently.”

Despite the flaws exposed successful Afghanistan by corruption and a deficiency of leadership, the 30-country subject confederation believes that grooming section information forces is the champion mode to combat extremists similar the Islamic State radical and to debar putting Western troops successful harm’s way.

NATO is presently grooming troops and helping to physique nationalist information institutions successful Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia, and has akin arrangements with Georgia and Moldova. It’s besides agreed to supply information proposal to conflict-torn Libya “when conditions permit.”

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“We request to proceed to combat planetary terrorism,” Stoltenberg said, and helium insisted that NATO’s efforts had helped to weaken the Al Qaeda network. He said that NATO tin debar getting mired successful combat operations if it successfully trains section forces.

But, helium conceded, “the large question we person to inquire successful an honorable and clear-eyed mode is: wherefore didn’t the forces we trained and equipped and supported implicit truthful galore years, wherefore were they not capable to basal up against the Taliban successful a stronger and amended mode than they did?”

Stoltenberg said NATO’s short-term purpose successful “extremely superior and unpredictable” circumstances is to guarantee that unit from subordinate and spouse countries tin get retired safely, arsenic good arsenic those Afghans who helped them.

He said astir 800 civilian unit from NATO countries person remained down successful Afghanistan to help, notably successful keeping the Kabul airdrome running, including unit to tally aerial postulation control, craft fueling operations and communications.

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Stoltenberg besides urged the Taliban to respect the wishes of those who privation to permission and not to adjacent borderline crossing points oregon airports. He appealed to the militants to debar “revenge oregon retribution” and guarantee a peaceful transportation of power.

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