At NATO, Clinton tells US allies they must fulfill aid pledges for Afghan security after 2014

[unhappycamper]

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/cea697eb8bdb4294beb50ae300726b4d/EU--NATO-Afghanistan




At NATO, Clinton tells US allies they must fulfill aid pledges for Afghan security after 2014
By BRADLEY KLAPPER Associated Press
December 05, 2012 - 7:55 am EST

BRUSSELS — The Obama administration pressed its European allies on Wednesday to follow through on their pledges to Afghanistan's security after most international troops withdraw in 2014, fearful of being left with the check in an era of austerity budgets and defense cutbacks.

Donors pledged $4.1 billion a year to support Afghan forces from 2015 to 2017 at a May summit in Chicago — firming up a key plank of the U.S. strategy to leave behind a secure Afghanistan after battling insurgents for more than a decade. But many governments have yet to come through with the cash.

Speaking at NATO headquarters, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told allies it is "crucial for every nation to follow through on their commitments, and for those who haven't yet committed any funding to do so." To make her point, she invoked Afghanistan's troubled history of chasing out the Soviet Union in the 1980s only to descend into civil war and the oppression of an extremist Taliban government.

"All of us here have an interest in ensuring this region does not once again become a safe haven for international terrorists," Clinton said. "We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of 1989 and just disengage. That's why we made an enduring commitment, and it's why we have to follow through on it — today, tomorrow and for years to come."



unhappycamper comment: This is beginning to sound like the 100 Years War.