NATO
Press Release
(2010)165 16
December 2010
Statement by the NATO Secretary General on the
United
States Review
on Afghanistan and
Pakistan
I welcome the release today of the
United
States’
annual review on Afghanistan and
Pakistan. It
builds on the decisions on Afghanistan that
NATO Allies and Partners took at our summit in Lisbon.
The review shows progress in
Afghanistan. Our strategy is sound and we have in place the necessary
resources to accomplish it. Now we have to consolidate those gains and make them
irreversible. This is a challenging task, but we are determined to see it
through. In the years to come, we will keep up efforts to support the Afghan
government as it extends its authority throughout the country. We will continue
to train Afghan forces so they can provide security for the Afghan people.
Our roadmap are the agreements we made at the Lisbon Summit. We are
gradually creating the conditions to enable Afghan forces to take lead for
security across the country by the end of 2014, with ISAF forces moving into a
supporting role. And, as the long-term partnership that President Karzai and I
signed at Lisbon
demonstrates, our commitment to Afghanistan will
continue well beyond 2014. NATO will also remain engaged with
Pakistan, which
is playing a critical role in bringing stability to the region.
NATO is in Afghanistan under
a United Nations mandate and at the invitation of the Afghan government. We are there because
our own security depends upon it. As we look back on 2010, we see that we
have made hard-fought progress. In 2011, all NATO Allies and their Partners in
ISAF will continue to work together to make
Afghanistan – and
our own nations -- safer.
News
and information is routinely placed on the NATO website. This includes audio
files, transcripts and high resolution photographs, which are posted as soon as
possible after events of media interest.
Nouvelles et informations sont régulièrement affichées sur le site Web
de l'OTAN, sous la forme de fichiers audio, de transcriptions et de
photographies destinées àla publication. Elles sont disponibles le plus
rapidement possible après les événements présentant un intérêt pour les médias.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
– Organisation du Traité de
l’Atlantique Nord
Press & Media – Presse &
Médias
B-1110 Bruxelles Belgique
E-mail: press@hq.nato.int –
Tel.: 32 2 707 50 41 – Fax: 32 2 707 50 57 – Internet:
www.nato.int
End of mail