NATO to stay in Afghanistan after end of current mission

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said the NATO foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to keep a civilian-led mission in Afghanistan after its current training operation ends, including a military component.

Jens Stoltenberg, at the opening of a two-day foreign ministers’ meeting in Antalya, Turkey said that “Unlike our present mission and our combat mission before it, our future presence will be led by civilians.”

NATO will maintain a military presence in Afghanistan once its current Resolute Support mission concludes, but the next phase of the alliance’s efforts in the country will transfer to civilian leadership.

“Today we agreed that we will maintain a presence in Afghanistan even after the end of our current mission,” Stoltenberg said at the conference.

The mission will be civilian-led and have a “light footprint” but will include a military component, he said.

While NATO hasn’t specified when it will end its current training mission, the U.S. has already said it plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016, which would likely spell the end for Resolute Support.

What comes next will be a civilian/military effort that ensures a continuing presence in Afghanistan, where NATO has been involved for more than a decade. Details about the size and scope of the next phase, including troop numbers, still need to be worked out, Stoltenberg said. However, the effort is expected to involve fewer personnel than the current Resolute Support campaign, which involves about 13,000 troops from 26 of NATO’s 28 member countries and 14 partner nations.

NATO still has doubts about the presence of Daesh in Afghanistan, but NATO is not said to consider its the long-term cooperation linked to the presence of this terrorist group.