Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Chief, Sees Financial Aid For Afghan Forces

WASHINGTON -- NATO's secretary-general says he's optimistic that the international community will continue to finance the Afghan security forces.

"This summit is not a pledging conference, but nevertheless a number of countries have announced substantial contributions to the Afghan security forces, so I'm optimistic," Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

The international community in general has a responsibility and interest in ensuring the Afghan forces take full responsibility for the country's security after 2014 to prevent terrorists from reestablishing safe havens and launching attacks against Europe and the United States, the NATO chief said.

The Afghan security forces are expected to cost about $4.1 billion a year. The Afghan government will pay about $500 million of that, and the rest will come from donors. The NATO summit, which opens in Chicago on Sunday, is not a pledging conference, but there will be much talk about who will pay. About $1.3 billion is expected to come from nations in the NATO coalition other than the United States. Pledges for about a third of that have been announced by Australia and European nations. U.S. taxpayers and some nations outside the military coalition likely will make up the $2.3 billion difference.

President Barack Obama is expected to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the summit's sidelines to discuss planning for Afghanistan's 2014 elections and the prospect of a political settlement with the Taliban. NATO's plans keep foreign forces in Afghanistan through the 2014 election but withdrawing by 2015.

Fogh Rasmussen pointed to Afghanistan as an example of NATO interests extending beyond the alliance countries' borders.

"We are in Afghanistan to prevent the country from once again becoming a safe haven for terrorists, who can use that safe haven as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Europe and North America," he said. "So though territorial defense remains the core task of NATO, we realize that defense of our borders may well start far from our borders in today's world."

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Comments

[talbi]

10:52 AM on 05/21/2012

where the hell did they get you anders fogh rasmussen, not even one day you made a sens in your speech only ugly people work around you. including that foreigne affaire what ever is here name, lagard my goodness. who employs you , who is using you to destroy morality on earth.

[ameriki00]

08:34 AM on 05/21/2012

How many more of our youth must be sacrificed on Mammon's alter?

[Sabrae]

06:19 AM on 05/21/2012

" U.S. taxpayers and some nations outside the military coalition likely will make up the $2.3 billion difference."

Oh but wait - we're broke, remember?
In fact, we're so broke that we have to cut into the food, medical and heating assistance for the poor and elderly.

As the multimillionaire senators decide how little funds the poor and elderly can receive, keep in mind they're doing it to fund other nations.

[tamazul]

10:02 PM on 05/20/2012

Boy! That-thar NATO Chief sho' looks like he could use a little Kaopectate.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

01:01 AM on 05/21/2012

He looks like a body-double for the late Rod Serling......."Ladies and gentlemen, I provide for your viewing Kabul.....The signpost on the right is welcoming you to The Twilight Zone."

[RichardinJax]

09:03 PM on 05/20/2012

There is obviously a lot more to this predicament then when folks let on. Walking away would be the best solution for the USA but it would be a horrible political risk for America's politicians. If those Polls could agree that dumping this loser is what is best and politicizing the consequences not in the country's best interest this thing would be over tomorrow.

That is not going to happen. No one is going to issue a get out now order. If they did their political opponents would jump on the next market bombing or Taliban attack. So we are stuck until someone with the courage to say vamos! and suffer the consequences comes along. Don't hold your breath.

[hobo62]

07:07 PM on 05/20/2012

BS. Aid will go to Karzi and Thugs, Inc.

[pbearme]

07:02 PM on 05/20/2012

For every 10 dollars we send to Afghanistan, $9.99 gets wasted by Afghan corruption. This is a bucket with no bottom. We should leave period. No$ No nothing.

[Sabrae]

06:22 AM on 05/21/2012

Now look at the cuts they plan to make here to continue to hand our tax dollars to them.

[Allen Clark]

07:02 PM on 05/20/2012

Why in the world should we support a country that is so corrupt that the majority of the money will end up in the hands of corrupt leaders and why should we support a country that is not willing to support themselves? That country has had ten years to pull itself together and build a military that can be trusted. Why should we support a country that has ask us to leave a number of times and as soon as we do, will welcome the same people we kicked out, right back in? This is stupid and we should just get out and let the corruption take over the corruption.

[2N2B5]

07:42 PM on 05/20/2012

But...but - it's the American way and has been for decades.

[RichardinJax]

08:54 PM on 05/20/2012

Hey Allen..sounds to me like you're mouthing "talking points from the left"...

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

01:02 AM on 05/21/2012

That's right, Richard, for those leftie talking points happen to be rational solutions to the hot mess begun by your rightist administration of none other than George W. Bush and Company....

[1Truthseeker]

06:51 PM on 05/20/2012

Go to this site of the priceless photo that says it all:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/18/is_taliban_poetry_any_good

The photo is from the current cover of FP and is placed right under column of "Most Popular on FP"

The title on the cover is: "Sweet Nothings for Karzai"

[TheHighForester]

06:03 PM on 05/20/2012

"The Afghan security forces are expected to cost about $4.1 billion a year. The Afghan government will pay about $500 million of that, and the rest will come from donors."

Even the donors understand that half of everything they provide to Afghanistan's "Security Forces" will end up in the hands of the Taliban. There has never been a war in which we have provided so much financial and military support to the forces who are actively killing American troops. There has never been a war in which so much corruption drove the actions of our "allies" and our own corporations. There has never been a war in which our political leaders in Washington were more concerned with their own image and less concerned with the well-being of the American people.

Hamid Karzai is the Afghan George W. Bush, pious on the surface and corrupt to his core. The only thing the United States should finance is his trial and execution.

[1Truthseeker]

06:56 PM on 05/20/2012

And that of George Bush. The Afghan war is a corporate war that was instigated to fulfill the request for security in Afghanistan for the UNOCAL and ENRON pipelines. To learn more about how corporate driven wars are initiated go to:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48119.000/hfa48119_0f.htm

The voters are easily manipulated with a corporate media that simply withholds critical and relevant information.

[Allen Clark]

07:03 PM on 05/20/2012

You have no idea what your talking about!! Your just mimicking the talking points of the left without actually thinking for yourself.

[ponderingtoo]

09:10 PM on 05/20/2012

Sure there has. It doesn't make it right, but it is not unique.

[FOXYROSE]

05:38 PM on 05/20/2012

It's just another way to extract dollars out of the U.S. - how many countries are we giving our tax dollars too and how much does it all add up to.

[TheHighForester]

06:03 PM on 05/20/2012

"Don't ask-don't tell."

[basecamp]

04:26 PM on 05/20/2012

No wonder we cant pay teachers.

[Allen Clark]

07:08 PM on 05/20/2012

We can not pay teachers because they are gready and self serving. This country is not in trouble because of war, it is in trouble because people like teacher and Unions want more than their fair share. Stop this mentality and we will all be doing a lot better. How many government worker does it take to dig a hole. "4" 1 to dig the hole, 2 to watch and 1 to supervise. Look at the next road construction job and you will see how true this is.

[RichardinJax]

08:51 PM on 05/20/2012

Now who is spewing talking points?

I know that incoherent screed you just posted sounded quite good to you. But it is silly nonsense. How exactly do you KNOW of what you are talking? Its standard talking point tripe...even when you say it.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

01:10 AM on 05/21/2012

Teachers are not overpaid. If it were not for unions, teachers would still be considered in "genteel poverty," just like back in the early sixties. They are professionals and should be rewarded as such. AC, your children and those of your neighbors are the charges of the folks that you malign.

The same holds true with road construction. A major Obama shovel ready project is being completed on my commute route and I see no one leaning on pieces of equipment. Further, have you ever worked construction? As a young man, going to college, I did so in the 95% humidity, 95 degree Houston summer heat. I can attest that there were times when all of us had to take breaks just to survive.....

[Carl Caroli]

03:54 PM on 05/20/2012

They ought to finance it with their own money and donations from the war mongers and all the corporations waiting to cash in on their resources.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

01:11 AM on 05/21/2012

Better yet, let them look to China for funding....

[Y2KCockroach]

01:32 PM on 05/20/2012

NATO has become the foreign policy arm of the Western nations. Unfortunately, it is poorly run, has a foggy mandate, has little record of real success, and is far more expensive than the U.N. ever was.

NATO was created to prevent the gawdless commies from invading Western Europe; ironically, it is those same Western European countries that now have no appetite (or money) to fund NATO's 21st century adventurism, including the ridiculous boondoggle in Afghanistan.

[Vcubed]

01:15 PM on 05/20/2012

Great. We pay for the security of a corrupt police state so they can remain in power for how many decades? (Maybe not a police state now, but watch what happens when Uncle Sugar closes the door. Largest heroin gang in the world with expertly trained enforcers. Ouch.)