NATO ministers in post Afghan withdrawal talks

photo - Wikipedia/US armed forces

The two-day meeting of ministers is part of preparations for the NATO summit in Chicago on 20 – 21 May.

NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative for Afghanistan, Sir Simon Gass told Polish Radio this morning that a small group of troops would be staying on after the withdrawal of the international ISAF mission in two years time.

“After 2014, NATO will be on a training mission in Afghanistan,” he said.

“Idea is to ensure Afghan forces have the ability to fully exercise responsibility for security. In the past two years, the Afghan army and police have developed considerably,” Gass added.

One of the key topics at the ministers’ meeting in Brussels this week is who will fund the mission.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday that the United States should make a written commitment to pay a minimum amount of 2 billion USD towards the maintenance of Afghan forces.

It has been estimated that it will cost around 4 billion USD a year to train Afghan security forces.

According to unofficial NATO sources, 3 billion USD is to be funded by the Americans and another billion would be paid for by a group of nations on a voluntary basis.
Which countries will pay for the training mission and which will be taking part is still under consideration, Simon Gass told Polish Radio this morning.

The conference in Brussels comes after the Taliban stepped up its insurgent campaign at the weekend with coordinated gun and rocket attacks on seven sites in the Afghan capital Kabul. (pg)