Daily Archives: December 1, 2014

BRUSSELS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his deputy, Abdullah Abdullah, met Monday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The visit follows the Afghan Parliament's ratification of a Status of Forces Agreement with NATO on Nov. 27 which authorizes non-combat NATO training, advice and assistance to the Afghan National Security Forces beginning Jan. 1, 2015.

"Their presence here at NATO headquarters is a great expression of the strong partnership between NATO and Afghanistan," Stoltenberg said, who vowed to "develop our enduring partnership."

"We now have in place what we need to move forward with our new mission, Resolute Support. To train, advise and assist the Afghan National Security Forces from the first of January 2015."

Ghani and Abdullah will remain in Brussels for a meeting Tuesday with foreign ministers to discuss operation Resolute Support.

Afghanistan's Parliament also approved a Bilateral Security Agreement with the U.S. on Thursday.

The White House said in a statement that the BSA and NATO SOFA "is a great credit to the newly formed government of national unity" and that it welcomes "a renewed partnership that will help advance our shared interests and the enduring security of Afghanistan."

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NATO chief meets with Afghan leaders to mark 'new chapter of cooperation'

BRUSSELS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- NATO will have an "interim spearhead" force in place by early 2015 to deter what its new Secretary General called Russia's "aggressive behavior."

Speaking at a press conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels this week, Secretary General Jens Stollenberg said Russia continues to violate international law in providing pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine with goods and weapons. By 2016, he added, NATO will have a fully-equipped "spearhead" in place which could be deployed, to Baltic states as an example, to "deter and defend" in a crisis.

Air patrols and military exercises in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all NATO members, have increased since Russia's military involvement in Ukraine, and the United States has returned tanks and other military equipment to Europe, a reversal of previous plans.

The interim force will consist of several hundred troops from Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Stollenbeerg added NATO would not involve itself in the current Ukraine crisis, but member nations could send weapons and equipment on a bilateral basis.

Russian reaction was immediate, with Alexei Meshkow, Russian deputy foreign minister, telling the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass northern Europe was being destabilized by NATO's exercises and "transferring aircraft carriers able to carry nuclear weapons to the Baltic Sea."

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2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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NATO announces deterrent force to contain Russia

BRUSSELS - NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday to chart a course forward after a "year of aggression" from Ukraine to the Middle East and the end of the alliance's combat mission in Afghanistan.

New chief Jens Stoltenberg said on the eve of the meeting that it was a decisive time marked by Russia's intervention in Ukraine and the regional threat from the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.

"2014 has been a year of aggression, crisis and conflict," said Norway's Stoltenberg, who took over from Denmark's Anders Fogh Rasmussen on October 1, adding that "Russia's actions have undermined Euro-Atlantic security." US Secretary of State John Kerry and other ministers will tackle an agenda topped by an interim rapid-reaction force capable of meeting the new and more unpredictable threats that the transatlantic alliance faces.

Accustomed to long-term challenges, NATO's 28 leaders accepted at a September summit they now faced a different world where hybrid warfare and political upheaval defied traditional military solutions.

In September they agreed on a "spearhead" force estimated at around 4,000 troops to be ready by 2016, but on Tuesday they will discuss an even faster, smaller force to be ready by early 2015, with Germany and the Netherlands willing to contribute troops.

"This will make us even better prepared to deter and to defend against any crisis arising around our borders," Stoltenberg said.

Ministers will also review NATO efforts to reassure eastern members such as the Baltic states and Poland - once ruled from Moscow - by rotating aircraft, ships and troops through the region to demonstrate its commitment to their defence.

Kerry chairs anti-IS meeting

For Ukraine itself, the foreign ministers are expected to approve four trust funds to finance its military modernisation, as government forces battle pro-Kremlin rebels in the east in a conflict which has claimed more than 4,000 lives.

Stoltenberg also called for Russia to reduce its military build-up on Ukraine's borders.

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NATO ministers to plot course on Ukraine, Afghanistan

Published December 01, 2014

BRUSSELS Leaders of Afghanistan and NATO say they are ready to move to a new phase in their relations the end of NATO-led combat operations in the violence-torn country effective Jan. 1.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah arrived at NATO headquarters on Monday for talks with alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Abdullah said that following the signature by Ghani on Sunday of a status of forces agreement with NATO, the "legal framework is now fully in place" for the U.S. and other alliance member nations to shift in 2015 to a mission of training, advising and assisting Afghanistan's security forces.

Foreign ministers of the 28 NATO member countries are scheduled to meet Tuesday in Brussels. They are expected to approve the new Afghan mission, named Resolute Support.

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NATO, Afghan leaders say they are ready to move to new phase