By Lailuma Sadid Journalist Brussels 3 Dec Kerry: “new set of possibilities” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after MoFA`s meeting in Brussels attended in the press conference in the NATO, he said initial contacts between the new Afghan government and Pakistan opened what he called a “new set of possibilities” for improvements in regional security. He also acknowledged that there will be more U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the end of the year than originally planned because of the delay in getting Afghan approval of key treaties that outline the status of the NATO forces. “These are temporary steps that have been taken, and NATO member countries are close to meeting the troop levels, and I anticipate that ultimately they will,” he said. Kerry and the Afghan leaders will be in London Thursday to meet with dozens of donor countries to line up additional financial support for the new Afghan government. The alliance is also meeting with partners who will be participating in the Resolute Support mission for Afghanistan. And that is a train, advise, and assist program that will begin in January. This really marks a remarkable moment in the history of the ISAF effort, some 13 years of military engagement which will now end and be replaced by the Resolute Support mission, added Kerry. The accomplishments over those years are really quite remarkable, and today we heard from a unity government, from President Ghani and from Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, both of whom talked the same language from the same page about the same possibilities for Afghanistan. And their leadership, their willingness, each of them to put themselves and even their supporters to a place where they could find compromise and put Afghanistan ahead of their personal ambitions, is a great statement about the hopes of the people of Afghanistan. And so as a result, you have the first transfer of power in a democracy from one government to government – to another government in the history of Afghanistan. That is no small accomplishment, just as having a unity government is no small accomplishment, he said. U.S. Foreign minister said, The Resolute Support mission marks the start now of a new phase in NATO’s support for Afghan security forces, and those security forces have already assumed full responsibility for the combat operations in their country. The recent wave of Taliban attacks shows how vital it is that the international community remains firm in its support for a stable, secure, and prosperous Afghanistan. Mr. Kerry add: “ And I might add that I met two nights ago in Washington with the chief of staff of the army of the military in Pakistan”, who has already visited with President Ghani. President Ghani has already visited to Pakistan. And he believed that in President Ghani and in the discussions they had, they really felt there were a new set of possibilities. So if that can be fleshed out even more, if Pakistan and Afghanistan can work at that in the days ahead, the possibilities for greater progress with respect to cross-border violence, on-border violence, dealing with sanctuaries and other challenges, could conceivably change for the better. “ I’m confident, we are engaged, we’ve been engaged today. I mean, first of all, I want to clarify something, because this is important and I think there’s a misunderstanding out there about U.S. policy with respect to troop numbers at this point in time. And I want to make it crystal clear that no changes whatsoever have been made to the force management level for 2015”, said Kerry. But because of the Afghan election delays, because of the delays in the passage of the SOFA, the agreement to sign the bilateral security agreement and now finally the ratification – all of this delayed many countries in their planning, he added.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 01:05:24 +0000
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