NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday Pakistan borespecial responsibility for how the situation in Afghanistan would unfold inthe coming days.
He told reporters at a briefing after an emergency NATO foreign ministers’meeting, “When it comes to Pakistan, I think that Pakistan has a specialresponsibility, partly because Pakistan is a neighbour of Afghanistan, andpartly because of Pakistan’s close relationship to Taliban [a terroristorganization, banned in Russia].”
Stoltenberg added, “So, I think Pakistan has a special responsibility tomake sure that Afghanistan lives up to its international commitments andalso that Afghanistan not once again becomes a safe haven for internationalterrorists.”NATO to speed evacuations from Afghanistan
More than 18,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban tookover Afghanistan’s capital, a NATO official said on Friday. He pledged toredouble evacuation efforts as criticism of the West’s handling of thecrisis intensified.
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Thousands of people, desperate to flee the country, were still throngingthe airport, said the official who declined to be identified, even thoughthe Taliban have urged people without legal travel documents to go home.
Criticism of NATO and other Western powers has risen as images of the chaosand desperate fear of Taliban rule were shared around the world.
