Afghan Taliban to take over if NATO leaves Afghanistan, admits NATO Secretary General
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KABUL - NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on Monday has admitted that Afghan Taliban will come back to Kabul if NATO leaves Afghanistan.
He said that the alliance and its allied partners must ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists.
Speaking at a pre-ministerial meeting in NATO headquarters, Stoltenberg stated that the challenge stills remain great in Afghanistan, adding that the cost of leaving is bigger than the cost of staying, TOLONEWS has reported.
“We must continue to ensure that the country never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists. Over the past months, we have stepped up our support – with more forces and funding, Because the cost of leaving is bigger than the cost of staying,” said Stoltenberg.
According to the NATO chief, the challenge in Afghanistan still remains great.
In a question about the importance of the NATO presence in Afghanistan, NATO chief said: “It is important for NATO to keep its presence in Afghanistan, because we have to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a platform, to plan to organize, to execute terrorist attacks against our own countries... There is high cost of staying in Afghanistan, there is high financial cost for NATO allies and there is a high human cost. We have had fatalities also in the past weeks. but we have to compare the cost of staying with the cost of leaving.
"If NATO and NATO allies leave Afghanistan, we have to be prepared there is a high risk that the Taliban will come back, and the different terrorist organizations will be able to gain ground and establish strong footholds in Afghanistan. For instance, we know that al-Qaeda is there, we know that ISIS (Daesh) is there. So this is about helping Afghanistan, but its also about helping ourselves.
