KABUL - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the alliance learned lessons from its mission in Afghanistan, reiterating NATO's long-term commitment to help conventional forces take responsibility for the security of their country.
Stoltenberg made the remarks in Britain on Thursday.
Stoltenberg also defended the presence of U.S forces in Afghanistan for combating terrorism. However he said that it was good for NATO to have started the training process of the local Afghan forces.
"Of course the lessons learned from Afghanistan, I think the most important lesson, actually there are two lessons, one is that it was right to go into Afghanistan because it was necessary to react to an attack that killed thousands of people in Washington and New York in 9/11. And it was impossible to accept that Afghanistan remains the safe haven for international terrorists, there was a clear UN mandate and international community supported it and NATO there has been an instrument for the international community to fight terrorism and to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for international terrorists. The other lesson I think we have learnt from Afghanistan is that we should have started earlier to train local forces, because in the long run it is difficult. So it is much better that local forces, forces from the country itself can take responsibility for security and stability in their own country," he said.
"Therefore we have now ended our combat mission in Afghanistan. Since 2015 we are only in a kind of train, assist and advise mission where we train and advise local Afghan forces and I am absolutely certain that in the long run that is a more sustainable and viable solution," said Stoltenberg.
Meanwhile, Afghan security officials have said that NATO's long term commitment particularly the U.S's commitment to Afghanistan must lead to the mobilization of well-equipped Afghan forces.
"In military spheres we do our best to create coordination. If there are any problems either from our side or NATO's side it needs to be resolved," said Mohammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman to defense ministry.
The Afghan security forces took charge of protecting Afghans following an end to NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan almost two years ago. But there is speculation that NATO has not done enough to ensure the mobilization of strong armed forces.
"Today you compare the weapons of the terrorists and the weapons of our security forces, what kind of equipment and funding is this, there is no change on the conventional and old weapons held by our security forces, and also we still do not have a strong air force," said senator Rafiullah Gul Afghan.
Currently up to 13,000 NATO and U.S troops are deployed in the country which are pursuing an advisory role to train, assist and advise the Afghanistan security forces.
However on different occasions, western officials have criticized the withdrawal of foreign combat troops from Afghanistan. (Tolonews)