NATO chief: Afghanistan remains a top priority

By Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANKARA (AA) - NATO's mission in Afghanistan remains a top priority, the bloc's top official said Thursday at a meeting in Brussels.

“We continue to support Afghan forces with training and with funding,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg old a press conference, according to a NATO statement.

He said NATO helps Afghan security forces fight international terrorism and create the conditions for a peaceful solution.

“We went into Afghanistan together, and together we will determine our future posture based on conditions we determine with the Afghans,” he added.

His remarks came amid reports that the U.S. may withdraw some or all of his forces from Afghanistan.

Stoltenberg addressed a wide range of issues, including the recent U.S. pullout from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, at a two-day defense ministers meeting which began Wednesday.

The leaders of NATO member states traditionally meet at a summit organized every two years. The member countries held their last summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels last year.