From 14 to 16 December 2011, a delegation of high ranking Afghan Military Officers, led by General Sher Mohammed Karimi (Chief of General Staff of Afghanistan) visited NATO HQ and SHAPE. General Karimi was accompanied by four commanders from the Afghan National Army Training and Education commands. This visit took place under the auspices of the NATO - Afghanistan Enduring Partnership.
natochannel.tv: Afghan Army General Optimistic about the Future
During the visit General Karimi addressed the NATO Military Committee. In addition to a general exchange of views, General Karimi updated the Military Committee on the progress made by Afghanistan in training and educating their own security forces. He and his delegation also met with high level officials of NATO International Staff and International Military Staff and SACEUR.
The visit was organized by the NATO Public Diplomacy and the Political Affairs and Security Policy Divisions. It occurred against the background of the 5 December International Conference on Afghanistan in Bonn and the 8 December meeting of Foreign Ministers of ISAF Troop Contributing Nations at NATO HQ. With an eye on the already started preparations for the May 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago, the visit provided an opportunity to exchange views on the consolidation of NATO-Afghanistan partnership throughout the completion of the process of transition to Afghan lead and beyond.
General Karimi highlighted that "transition is on track. We are confident that the end of 2014 goal for its completion will be met." He added that transition must be seen as a "comprehensive process, not a one-off event."
There was general recognition that Afghan National Security Forces continue to grow, in both quantity and quality. Today, "80% of security operations in Afghanistan are led by Afghan National Security Forces, with ISAF enabling support", General Karimi said. Continued international assistance, including through training, remains essential to achieve Afghan National Security Forces sustainability.
Ambassador Grabar-Kitarovic, Assistant Secretary General for NATO Public Diplomacy, pointed out the importance of NATO's long term commitment towards Afghanistan. She said: "End of 2014 will mean the completion of a process of transition to Afghan lead. It will also mean the beginning of a new partnership between Afghanistan and the Atlantic Alliance."
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January 9, 2012
Amarjyoti Acharya
Given Afghanistan's fragile existence and its history and the environment that South Asia presents, Afghanistan has very few choices left and its Generals do not make those few choices. can not make those few choices. The geo-strategic import of Afghanistan had long declined with the withdrawal of the Soviet Forces during the Cold War era. The Soviet Union is no more and neither is the Cold War.
To provide an illustration from one's personal life - I once knew a woman and we were supposed to get married even. The Indians were so curious that they hacked our telephonic conversations and created a world of their own - where grey hair meant something for them. Perhaps working for the United States of America. Where this woman was working for the United States State Department! She did figure once as a donkey but that is her and not me. I knew the State Department woman who met me and we suddenly found the entire world turn topsy-turvy over the slavery of the Indians to an Indian Jesuit's question to me. It had no meaning as the Jesuit had no locus standi.
We did have the Indians show me - included their bloody armed forces that they do not encourage the marriage of a foreign national as that woman with me - while they have gone around changing into cats and dogs and pigs as Indians are wont to. I would have vomited but then the Roman Catholic Church (and the various Churches wanting to labour under the US flag) was upon a mission to find its priests some comfort women. Together they imagined it was my life to be cannibalized from. For its women friends etc.
Such imaginations do not change the ground realities. They change perceptions and betray a strategic fault and psychic as well as psychological illness. Afghanistan in assuming some credibility and capability may be making the same mistake - though not as sick as the Vatican-inspired or its populace inspired illnesses.
Perceptual clarity means the recognition of a reduced role of the NATO states while having a neighbourhood that is capable of such illnesses. Those illnesses are Vatican-inspired illnesses in their probable searches for comfort-women for their Priests. Or they may provide a better explanation and are welcome to do so - along with the Indian state and its populace.
That would inevitably mean that China and Russia - which is already a part of the NATO in some areas - would be wielding more influence in the area than the Vatican-Churches inspired NATO states! Or they may not be so and they need to prove it. This also signals a changing geo-strategic environment in South Asia and which may help the world know less illness than demonstrated by the Indians since 2003.
The Indians are desperate and are ill. They also do have a populace that is at once what any analyst would warn against. Of the NATO states, only France and Germany seek their own particular real-politik in areas generally exhibiting a common NATO framework and overview. Those private excursions again may not mean more stability for South Asia given the change of the powers who may and rightly so - wield more interest in the region than the NATO states. Also more capable. Especially in curing the favoured route of many Christian religious fundamentalists (the source of illness in India): the medieval crusade. The newer power alignment in South Asia means a better time for South Asia as well as Afghanistan.