Afghanistan crisis: 'Extraordinary' NATO virtual meeting on August 20

The meeting has been convened by Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary general.

With the Taliban once again ruling Afghanistan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) secretary general Jens Stoltenberg announced on Wednesday he has called for an “extraordinary” virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of the bloc’s member states on August 20. Stoltenberg’s announcement came on a day when the European Union (EU), too, stressed upon the need to take in Afghans who are under “immediate threat.”

“I have convened an extraordinary virtual meeting of NATO foreign ministers this Friday, 20 August, to continue our close coordination and discuss our common approach on Afghanistan,” Stoltenberg, a former two-time prime minister of Norway who took over as the alliance’s secretary general in 2014, tweeted.

On Tuesday, he described the situation in Afghanistan as “serious and unpredictable,” urging “those taking power” to ensure that “international terrorists do not regain a foothold.” He also warned that the NATO allies “have the capabilities and vigilance to respond.”

Additionally, according to Stoltenberg, around 800 civilian personnel from the NATO countries are still in Afghanistan.

NATO, a 30-member intergovernmental military coalition headquartered in Brussels, entered the Afghan war in 2003 and completed its combat operations there in 2014. In 2015, it began training the Afghan security forces, with special focus on Special Operations Forces and the Afghan Air Force.

28 European countries and two North American countries, the United States and Canada, are members of NATO.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has already chaired a meeting on Afghanistan, on August 16, a day after Taliban insurgents captured the country’s capital city of Kabul. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will hold a special session on August 24 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s surge towards Kabul, and eventual victory, was driven by US president Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan, since the arrived here in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. On Monday, Biden, who is facing severe criticism both at home and abroad, defended the decision, saying that “there was never a good time to pull out the forces.”

(With agency inputs)