By NNN-KUNA,
Istanbul : The defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) called here on Friday for translating the pledges of the London Conference on Afghanistan into real actions.
Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the ministers’ two-day informal meeting, NATO’s Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the process to stabilize Afghanistan required more finance than ever.
“After a difficult year in 2009, we now see a new momentum in 2010 and it has already started,” he said, noting that the financial contributions of NATO’s 44 allied countries went down at a time when the military operations in Afghanistan required more funding.
“I’ve encouraged the NATO partners to dig deep and look at what they can do to staff the training mission,” Rasmussen affirmed.
He noted that the number of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would exceed 140,000 troops this year when the 30,000 additional US troops and 10,000 reinforcements from other allies are deployed.
Commenting on the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, he said the force became more resilient after trimming its troops from 14,000 to 10,000 soldiers.
NATO mulls plans for the management of these troops and its peacekeeping force is fully-equipped to maintain the calm atmosphere in the region, he said.
NATO’s ministerial meeting focused on how to meet the requirements of building the capacity of the Afghan security forces as envisaged by the international conference on Afghanistan hosted by London on January 28.
The meeting also discussed the financial management of the alliance under the current global financial crisis which put strains on the military budgets of the member states.
The conferees agreed to work together to bridge NATO’s budget deficit and ensure sufficient funding for the alliance’s strategic investments.