NATO to remain in Afghanistan, new alliance leader pledges

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BRUSSELS, Belgium — NATO will stay in Afghanistan, the military alliance's new leader said Aug. 3 in Brussels, Belgium. "We will support the Afghan people for as long as it takes. Let me repeat that: for as long as it takes," said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister who became NATO secretary general on Aug. 1.

He said success in the country was NATO's top priority, "to help prevent Afghanistan from becoming again the Grand Central Station of international terrorism."

"Anyone who believes in basic human rights, including women's rights, should support this mission," he said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has taken a battering in recent months, suffering record casualties as it tries to dislodge Taliban from areas of the country where they hold sway.

Rasmussen, who replaced Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at NATO's helm, said improving relations with Russia was his second priority. Ties between the two have been strained over the past year, with NATO temporarily walking out of the joint Russia-NATO Council in the wake of Russia's invasion of Georgia, its southern neighbour, last summer.

"There is clearly scope for us to work together on counterterrorism, Afghanistan, piracy, non-proliferation, and many other areas," Rasmussen said. "It is obvious that there will be fundamental issues on which we disagree. [But] we have to insist … that Russia fully complies with its international obligations, including respecting the territorial integrity and political freedom of its neighbours."

He also proposed a standing anti-piracy role for NATO, "with the capabilities, legal arrangements and force generation in place to make it happen."

And he asked for public participation in devising a new NATO mission statement. "I want to hear the views of the public on what NATO should be and do in future," he said.

Rasmussen tapped former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to chair a group of 12 to develop the NATO mission statement. The experts will consult widely, and then make recommendations to him, he said.

[CNN]