Monthly press briefing by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen - Opening remarks
NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
01 Oct. 2012
Monthly press briefing
by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen - Opening remarks
Good afternoon.
Next week, NATO Defence ministers and our partners will meet here in Brussels. We will have two major items on our agenda. Firstly, our missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, and secondly, our Defence capabilities.
On Afghanistan, our goal is to hand over full responsibility for security to the Afghans by the end of 2014.
Our strategy is to build up the capacity of the Afghan security forces and gradually hand over to them lead responsibility for the security across the country. Soon we will have reached the goal of 352,000 Afghan security forces. And they are already taking lead responsibility in areas where 75% of the Afghan population live.
Our timeline is to complete this transition by the end of 2014. At that time, our current ISAF combat mission will end. From 2015 it will be followed by a NATO-led mission to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces.
The goal, the strategy and the timeline remain unchanged. And the commitment to the goal, the strategy and the timeline was reinforced in my meetings in New York last week - in particular during the transatlantic meeting of European and NATO Foreign Ministers. This commitment will be reaffirmed when Defence Ministers meet next week.
We are going through a challenging period, not least due to the occurrence of insider attacks. We look at these attacks with the utmost concern. We are determined to tackle those challenges. And we are working with our Afghan partners to do so.
The insurgents are trying to undermine our partnership and to drive a wedge between us. My message is very clear: we will not let them succeed. Because ISAF and the Afghan security forces face the same threats, and we have the same goal – a sovereign, stable and secure Afghanistan.
Let me update you on the current situation.
Right now, most ISAF units are conducting normal partnered operations. They are working with our Afghan partners and they are mentoring our Afghan partners.
The Afghan forces are already taking responsibility for large areas of the country. And the initial results are promising. They show that the Afghan forces are indeed able to maintain security. In the areas where they took the lead last year, the situation has remained stable. In some areas, security has actually improved.
For example, in the Regional Command for Kabul, which is already fully involved in the transition process, enemy-initiated attacks fell by 17% in the first eight months of this year, compared with the same period last year. And when the enemy did launch attacks, the Afghan forces took the lead in dealing with them.
So yes, we are facing challenges. But we will deal with them. And we will continue to put our strategy into effect.
Next week, I expect ministers to take a step forward in planning our next mission – to provide training, advice and assistance to the Afghan forces after the end of 2014, once they have full responsibility for their country’s security.
We have already begun the planning process. And I expect ministers to conclude the first phase by approving the broad framework for the mission.
This will guide our military experts as they take the planning process ahead. My goal is for us to agree on a detailed outline early next year, and to finalise the plan well before the end of 2013. This will give us the time we need to make sure the transition to the new mission is seamless.
It will also mark our commitment to working with our partners.
Our partners share our interest in cooperative security. They share our commitment to stability. And they share the burden of our operations.
So it is only right that they should share the planning of operations to which they have committed. And I would expect the partners who have joined the planning process for the post-2014 mission to endorse the broad framework of the plan, alongside the 28 Allies, when we meet next week.
The second main item on the agenda for the Defence Ministers meeting will be our defence capabilities. We will make sure we keep up the momentum on Smart Defence, finding more ways
to become more efficient in the way we go about the business of security.
We are already moving forwards. At the Chicago Summit, we approved a list of 22 multinational projects which will give Allies more access to crucial capabilities, with less strain on their budgets. These cover areas such as clearing roadside bombs, sharing smart munitions, and pooling maritime patrol aircraft.
And smart defence has really got momentum. Since Chicago, we have already brought two more projects to a stage where Allies can put them into practice. I expect around 10 more to be added in the coming months. And there are around 100 other projects which are under consideration.
Ces travaux sont menés à l’échelle de l’OTAN. Tous les Alliés, de part et d’autre de l’Atlantique, sont parties prenantes. Et les pays européens jouent un rôle central : pour chacun des vingt-quatre projets sur la table, il y a une participation du côté européen ; environ deux tiers des projets sont pilotés par des Alliés européens ; et un tiers d’entre eux ont une participation strictement européenne.
Il est donc clair que nous maintenons la dynamique. À cet égard, je me réjouis de la nomination du général Jean-Paul Paloméros comme nouveau commandant suprême allié Transformation. Je l’ai rencontré vendredi dernier, à l’occasion de sa prise de commandement. J’ai décidé de faire du général Paloméros l’un de mes deux émissaires spéciaux pour la défense intelligente. Je suis convaincu qu’il fera progresser nos travaux au cours des mois à venir.
There is still much to do. We need to discuss new ways to increase our cooperation – not just in terms of projects, but of long-term planning. We need to determine how NATO, as an Alliance, can best support the development of vital capabilities.
It is a complex challenge. But the goal is simple: to make sure NATO remains the most modern, most capable and most effective Alliance in the world.
With that, I am ready to take your questions.
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