Austin welcomes NATO Secretary Gen. to Pentagon скачать в хорошем качестве

Austin welcomes NATO Secretary Gen. to Pentagon

(7 Jun 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4329490 U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin welcomed NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the Pentagon on Monday. "We're focused on NATO's top job, which as you and I have talked about it on a number of occasions, that job is maintaining credible deterrence and being ready to fight and win if deterrence should fail," said Austin. "But so, too, are we focused on ensuring the entire alliance has a comprehensive view of the challenges the transatlantic community faces and for leading NATO's adaptation to meet those threats." Lloyd also discussed the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces by Sept. 11, the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan representatives began last September in Doha, Qatar and continued earlier this year. But the Taliban announced on April 13 - a day before President Joe Biden’s announcement that all U.S. troops would leave by Sept. 11 - that it would not take part in any conference intended to decide the future of Afghanistan until all foreign troops were gone. "We will continue to provide support to the Afghans with our continued civilian presence in Afghanistan, with continued funding for the Afghan security forces, and also looking into the possibility of providing out of country training for Afghan forces and of course, also helping to maintain critical infrastructure such as the airport," said Stoltenberg. "We need to stay coordinated. We need to work together with the partners as we now end our military presence in Afghanistan." Their meeting came hours before Stoltenberg is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden. Stoltenberg's trip is a working visit to discuss the 14 June NATO Summit in Brussels and the 'many issues on the NATO agenda', including reinforcing transatlantic security in the face of challenges from Russia and China. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...