NATO to Taliban: Uphold your commitments. NATO to Pakistan: Make sure they do
Good afternoon,
…..First, the continuing evacuation of people from Allied and partner countries, and Afghans who worked with us. This is our immediate priority.
NATO has worked around the clock to maintain operations at Kabul international airport,
allowing thousands of people to leave.
Around 800 NATO civilian personnel have worked to keep the airport open, providing air traffic control, fuel, and communications.
I also thank the military forces of NATO Allies,
in particular Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and our partner Azerbaijan,
for their vital role in securing the airport.
And I thank all the Allies who have today pledged to receive Afghans at risk.
Second, we discussed our approach to those in power in Kabul.
The eyes of the world are on Afghanistan.
We expect the Taliban to uphold their commitments,
and ensure that Afghanistan does not again become a safe haven for international terrorism.
The Taliban must put an end to violence around the country,
and uphold the fundamental rights of all Afghan citizens – men, women and children.
Over the years, NATO’s presence and the support of the whole international community,
have allowed Afghans to make unprecedented social, economic and political progress.
Any Afghan government which attempts to undo this progress risks international isolation.
Third, ministers agreed that we will not allow terrorists to threaten us again from Afghanistan.
NATO’s engagement was in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on 9/11.
Our objective was to prevent terrorists from using Afghanistan as a safe haven for further attacks on us.
And no terrorist attacks on Allied soil have been organized from Afghanistan over the last two decades.
These gains must be preserved.
For our own security.
Finally, there are hard questions that we need to ask ourselves over our engagement in Afghanistan.
We were clear-eyed about the risks of withdrawing our troops.
But the speed of the collapse of the Afghan political and military leadership, and armed forces was not anticipated.
There are many lessons to be learned.
And I intend to conduct a thorough assessment of NATO’s engagement in Afghanistan.
North America and Europe must continue to stand together in NATO.
The unfolding events in Afghanistan do not change this.
The shifting global balance of power, Russia’s aggressive actions, and the rise of China,
make it even more important that we keep a strong transatlantic bond.
We honour the service of the hundreds of thousands of Allied and partner military and civilians who have served in Afghanistan, and all the Afghans who have stood with us. ……
NATO’s total engagement in Afghanistan over two decades.
And as you know that started with the ISAF mission, and then that turned into the Resolute Support in 2014. So, so we have been there for close to 20 years. And we have invested a lot in blood and treasure in Afghanistan. And I think we should now have a very honest and clear-eyed assessment of what went wrong, but also what we achieved, and I will initiate that as soon as possible.
Exactly how that will be done, I’ll have to come back to that but it was brought support, support from Allies to the idea of an assessment of the engagement to have… to learn lessons and to mitigate and learn. So we draw the right lessons from the engagement in Afghanistan and, and I have a humble approach, because when we see the challenges, the crisis, we are faced with Afghanistan, of course there are some serious lessons to be learned of the two decades in Afghanistan, for NATO.
Then, fundamentally the message from all Allies, of course, and also the United States, and also what is reflected in the statement from foreign ministers today is the same that the government, the rule is the Taliban. They, in Kabul, in Afghanistan, they need to live up to their international commitments, to not harbour, support international terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, to respect human rights, including the rights of women, and also to give free passage to people so they can leave the country.
And that of course also includes Afghans, and this has been expressed by Allies, individual Allies. And today also, in a joint statement by all NATO Allies, coming from the foreign ministerial meeting.
This is a tragedy, first and foremost for the people of Afghanistan. We have been there for 20 years, we have deployed hundreds of thousands of NATO troops. Several thousands have paid the ultimate price, and hundreds of thousands of non-US Allies have served alongside US soldiers in Afghanistan and more thousands have paid the ultimate price.
So this has really been a huge effort by this alliance. When the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban back in February 2020, of course then it was very difficult for European Allies to continue to stay, because as you alluded to, we went into Afghanistan as a reaction… as a response to an attack on the United States.
And when the United States decided to end its military mission there with the agreement signed back in February 2020, then it was no viable practical option for the other Allies, European Allies and Canada, to remain without the United States.
NATO remains a strong alliance. NATO has implemented the biggest enforcement or collective defense in Europe since the end of the Cold War, and, and it was a very clear message from the meeting today, that whatever happens in Afghanistan, that should not undermine our ability to protect NATO allied countries NATO allied territory, and, and that was a very clear message from the foreign ministers today.
Turkey has been responsible for the airport for several years, and they continue to play a key role in operating the airport, the big difference now is of course that because of the crisis, because of the difficulties because of the, the huge evacuation effort, all the Allies and especially the United States have also deployed a large number of troops to the airport.
All Allies, thanked today those Allies who are helping to operate the airport, in particular Turkey, the United States, United Kingdom, but also some other Allies who have deployed different kinds of capabilities to be able to run the airport, and also several hundreds NATO officials are supporting… civilian officials, civilian staff are also helping to operate the airport in close cooperation with the United States and other NATO Allies.
Then on the timelines. That was an issue that was discussed during the meeting today, and several Allies raised the issue of potentially extending the timeline. To get more people out. The US has stated that the timeline ends on the 31st of August, but several Allies raised during the discussion today, the need to potentially extend that to be able to get more people out. …
I think what is important now is that whatever new government, we will get in Kabul, that this is an inclusive government. And everything that can help to support such a process I think is helpful. When it comes to Pakistan, I think that Pakistan has a special responsibility, partly because Pakistan is a neighbour of Afghanistan and partly because of Pakistan’s close relationship to Taliban.
So, I think, Pakistan has a special responsibility to make sure that Afghanistan, live up to its international… that Afghanistan lives up to its international commitments, and, and also that Afghanistan, not once again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists. A stable Afghanistan is in the interest of all countries and not least the neighbours as Pakistan……
NATO is not a nation, so NATO does not recognize states, but of course NATO Allies can do that and it was clearly stated in the meeting today, that diplomatic recognition is something which there have to be conditions on how the new government behave and to what extent they live up to their international commitments.
So the message is reflected in the statement agreed by foreign ministers today. And, and that is about the need for Afghanistan to live up to commitments, for instance, a commitment in the agreement with the United States signed in February 2020, or last year, where they clearly stated that they should not support, provide a safe haven for international terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda or ISIS, so that’s a very obvious and important commitment because NATO went into Afghanistan, our main task in Afghanistan has to be to prevent the country from once again becoming a platform for launching terrorist attacks against our own countries.
For 20 years we have prevented such attacks, terrorist attacks from Afghanistan against NATO allied countries, we need to preserve those gains, and we also discussed during the meeting today, how we can preserve those gains, including by stating really clearly to the Afghan, new Afghan rulers, the new government that these are commitments we expect them to adhere to. Then of course it also is relevant when it comes to…. we also expect them to live up to other commitments, including respect for human rights and the rights of women.
And then some NATO Allies have not recognized the new government partly because there is no new government to recognize. But some Allies, and I think that is important, they have, what I will call operational tactical contact with the Taliban, but that is to ensure safe passage, to manage the situation outside the airport and so on. That is, we have to distinguish these kinds of tactical, operational contact with Taliban, which I think is needed, important, and diplomatic recognition, that’s two different things. For A Deeper Dive: HERE