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Joint press conference by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai - Opening remarks

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

18 Oct. 2012

Joint press conference

by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai - Opening remarks

Mr. President, it is a great pleasure to be in Kabul once again and to meet you. And we have had a very positive meeting this morning and I am very happy that on this visit, I am accompanied by the North Atlantic Council, which is NATO’s political decision-making body, and seven of our 22 ISAF partners.

And our visit today is a clear demonstration of our commitment. All fifty nations within the ISAF coalition remain committed to Afghanistan, now and for the long-term. And this is a great opportunity to see with our own eyes the progress we are making.

And so there can be no mistake, let me repeat in Kabul what I said in Brussels. Our strategy is working and our timeline remains unchanged. We are all committed to seeing our combat mission through by the end of 2014. That was what we agreed with you, Mr. President, at the Chicago Summit – in Lisbon and Chicago.

In Chicago, we also agreed to work with the Afghan government to establish a new mission after 2014. This will not be a combat mission. It will focus on training, advice and assistance. And we are now actively planning for that mission.

The Afghan security forces have already achieved much. They are in the lead for the security of three quarters of the population. And where they are in charge, violence has gone down. Violence has gone down. Your forces are in the lead for 80 percent of all operations, and they conduct 85 percent of the training. That is progress we can all be proud of. And it makes us confident that the Afghan security forces will take full responsibility for security by the end of 2014.

We all know there are still challenges. They include insider attacks. This is a threat that our forces face, and so do yours. It is a common threat, and we are dealing with it together.

And let me make it clear. The enemies of Afghanistan may change their tactics, but they will not succeed. They will not undermine the trust we have built over the years and across this country. They will not divide us from our Afghan partners and friends. And they will not divert us from our mission, our strategy and our timeline.

The Afghan people can be proud that next year, your forces will be in the lead for security across the country. The year after that, you will hold presidential elections. I can assure you, you have the strong and long-term support of the whole international community. So you can look to the future with confidence, and build the future that you want and deserve.