By David WroeFeb. 18, 2015, 6:12 p.m. <\/p>\n
The military head of NATO has confirmed the alliance hopes Australia will remain in Afghanistan - including militarily - beyond the current withdrawal date of the end of 2016. <\/p>\n
NATO military committee chairman General Knud Bartels. Photo: Carlos Alvarez <\/p>\n
NATO military committee chairman General Knud Bartels. Photo: Carlos Alvarez <\/p>\n
NATO military committee chairman General Knud Bartels. Photo: Carlos Alvarez <\/p>\n
NATO military committee chairman General Knud Bartels. Photo: Carlos Alvarez <\/p>\n
The military head of NATO has confirmed the alliance hopes Australia will remain in Afghanistan - including militarily - beyond the current withdrawal date of the end of 2016. <\/p>\n
NATO military committee chairman General Knud Bartels has also told Fairfax Media in a wide-ranging interview that it will take \"decades\" to defeat Islamic extremism in the Middle East. <\/p>\n
\"Engaging ISIL and defeating ISIL and putting in place sustainable government institutions across the whole range of the [Middle East] area will take a long time,\" he said, using the acronym for the Islamic State terror group. <\/p>\n
Asked to quantify it, he said \"decades\". <\/p>\n
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See the original post here: <\/p>\n
NATO hopes Australia will stay in Afghanistan after 2016<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By David WroeFeb. 18, 2015, 6:12 p.m. Continue reading