Opening remarks
by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the meeting of the North Atlantic Council with Resolute Support operational partner nations
(As delivered)
So then I think we are ready to start.
Welcome to this meeting on Afghanistan and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission.
We will discuss our continued engagement to help Afghanistan build a better future. At the Warsaw Summit in July, we agreed to sustain our Resolute Support beyond 2016, to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces.
We also decided to continue national contributions to their financial sustainment through 2020, with around 4 billion dollars a year and we restated our political and practical support to Afghanistan for the long term.
These are clear signals of the continued commitment of the international community. The security situation in Afghanistan remains difficult but the Afghan Security Forces are responding with great bravery and professionalism. NATO Allies and partners continue to support them politically, practically and financially. In return, Afghanistan made commitments to step up reforms and improve governance. We will review all these mutual commitments today.
With this, I thank the members of the media for being with us for the public part of this meeting. So many thanks to the media.