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BRUTAL DILEMMA: The decision to withdraw or remain in Afghanistan comes in February, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Here she is on a flight with NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu earlier this year. Photo: Gøran Bohlin
Donald Trump’s order to withdraw half the US force from Afghanistan puts NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in a dilemma: Should NATO stay or go? The answer should be ready in February.
– We are faced with a brutal dilemma, Jens Stoltenberg tells VG on Monday afternoon.
The decision covers the future of about 100 Norwegian soldiers who help the Afghan special police and who run a military hospital in Kabul.
An agreement between the United States and the Taliban establishes that foreign soldiers will be out of Afghanistan on May 1 of next year, with a series of reservations that the use of violence in the country has been reduced considerably.
NATO currently has around 11,000 troops in Afghanistan, 4,500 are Americans, and Trump has decided that 2,000 will “go home for Christmas.”
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risk
Stoltenberg describes the dilemma as follows, ahead of a digital meeting between NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday and Wednesday:
– Or we have to leave the country and then we risk losing the progress in the fight against terrorism, the social and economic progress that we have seen in Afghanistan.
– Or we decide to continue being there, but then we run the risk of more violence, also against NATO forces and we risk an even longer military presence in a country where it is difficult to operate.
reThere are no simple and good answers to that dilemma. he adds:
– There will be costs, risks, whether you choose one or the other. But my most important message to NATO allies is that no matter what we decide, we must do it together in a coordinated and common way. Minimize the risk of both options. says the Secretary General of NATO to VG.
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Although Trump has announced for several years that he wanted to get out of America’s “senseless wars”, the decision came abruptly to Norway and the other allies. The problem has been serious for NATO countries in recent weeks.
When the United States announced that it would make the decision to withdraw, Stoltenberg issued a completely unusual warning to Trump:
– The price of leaving prematurely and without coordination can be very high, Stoltenberg said, noting that Afghanistan may once again become a platform for international terrorism.
In the days that followed, there was an agitated contact between Brussels and Washington to clarify whether the United States would continue to assume responsibility for overall force protection for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.
Since then, the United States has confirmed that it maintains capabilities such as intelligence, medical evacuation, and aircraft and helicopter support.
Therefore, the other NATO countries were willing to continue their contributions, at least through the winter. But no NATO country wants to send more troops to Afghanistan. On the contrary:
“It has never been NATO’s intention to stay in Afghanistan forever,” says Stoltenberg.
Ny president
Now the tension is related to whether Joe Biden will change Trump’s decision on Afghanistan when he takes office as president of the United States on January 20. But Stoltenberg won’t respond to that.
“The United States can only have one president at a time,” he told a news conference.
He also didn’t say whether Biden pointed to changes in Trump’s policy in Afghanistan, when Stoltenberg spoke to Biden by phone last week:
– It would be a mistake for me to comment on what he said. But I explained how important it was for us to coordinate, Stoltenberg said.
