Rasmussen promises to stand by Karzai with ‘Resolute Support’

By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul today: "Let there be no doubt: our commitment is certain, to the end of transition and beyond it. NATO will stand by you”.
 
The Secretary General said the transition is making steady progress and Afghan security forces will assume lead responsibility for combat operations across the country in a matter of months.  He added that work to establish a new NATO mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces after 2014 is “taking shape” and would be called ‘Resolute Support’.
 
Rasmussen and his party were welcomed in Kabul by Commander ISAF, General Joseph F. Dunford.  There are only pictures of this meeting on the NATO website but it was reported that the Secretary General also met International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops while there.
 
In his opening remarks at the press conference, the Secretary General paid tribute to the courage, professionalism and determination of the Afghan forces which he said had grown more capable, effective, and confident as well as better trained.  He added he was “confident that the international community will live up to its commitments, just as we expect the Afghan government to live up to its commitments”.
 
It will be vital that next year’s elections “are inclusive, and that the process and the outcome are acceptable to the Afghan people. And it will be vital to make sure that the Afghan government continues to deliver on its commitments to strengthen the rule of law, fight corruption and uphold human rights, including the rights of women”, he said. 
 
Answering the first question, Rasmussen was forthright in his call for the Pakistani military to step up the fight against terrorism and extremism in the border region:
 
We need a positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability, not only in Afghanistan but in the region.  And I think time has come for the Pakistani leadership, the military leadership as well as the political leadership to realize that it is in their self-interest to ensure a peaceful development in Afghanistan
 
President Karzai said that both Afghanistan and Pakistan are "burning in the fire of terrorism" and "Pakistan has a key role in extinguishing the flames. Those who encourage terrorism, support terrorism and preach the killing of women and children should be placed on the world's moral blacklist. It's an affront to human dignity”.
 
Answering a question about NATO being reluctant to handover security and installations or facilities to Afghan forces, Rasmussen said that some military facilities have already been handed over to Afghan authorities and that he foresaw more being handed over in the future. He also acknowledged there were problems that had to be overcome, not least the question of sufficient funding and equipment for the Afghan forces to be able to do what is required.
 
The Secretary General told Reuters that he expects a decision on the size of the post-2014 training force to be made by the middle of this year as "it takes some time to stand up a new training mission, of course, and we will need the clarification within the next few months”.