NATO CHIEF CLAIMS AFGHAN FORCES CAN COPE WITH TALIBAN

NATO has helped provide security in Afghanistan for almost two decades but the government and armed forces in the conflict-torn country are strong enough to stand on their own feet without international troops to back them, the head of the military organization said.

NATO took charge of security efforts in Afghanistan in 2003, two years after a US-led coalition ousted the Taliban for harboring former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Fewer than 9,000 troops remain, including up to 3,500 US personnel, and they are scheduled to leave by Sept. 11 at the latest, Lorne Cook reported for the Associated Press (AP).

“I think that the Afghans, they also realize that we have been there now for 20 years and we have invested heavily in blood and treasure in Afghanistan,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told AP, aboard the UK aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth involved in war games off the coast of Portugal.

“Afghanistan has come a long way, both when it comes to building strong, capable security forces, but also when it comes to social and economic progress. At some stage, it has to be the Afghans that take full responsibility for peace and stability in their own country,” Stoltenberg said in an interview.

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