Afghanistan: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should make an honest assessment of what led to the "swift and sudden" collapse of the Afghan government and armed forces against the Taliban, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
"The big question we have to ask and understand in a clear-eyed way is: why did not the forces we trained, and equipped, and supported over so many years, why were they not able to stand up against the Taliban in a stronger and better way than they did?" Stoltenberg said at a press conference after a special meeting of NATO ambassadors to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. "What we have seen in the last few weeks was a military and political collapse at a speed which had not been anticipated ... It was a surprise, the speed of collapse, and how swiftly that happened," NATO Secretary-General said. He also said that lessons will need to be learned, but at the moment the priority is to evacuate as many people as possible from Afghanistan. He added that about 800 civilian personnel from NATO countries have remained behind in Afghanistan to keep Kabul airport running. Allies are sending more planes to Afghanistan to assist people in leaving the country, he said, and an airbridge is also being built for this purpose.
Stoltenberg said that international terrorism remains a challenge and a threat in many places in the world. "Therefore, NATO needs to stay vigilant, to stay at the forefront of the fight against international terrorism. But there are lessons that need to be learned from Afghanistan, and we will do that.
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