Acting Finance Minister Mohammad Humayun Qayumi says the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the alliance’s partners have commended reforms in the Afghan government’s civilian and military institutions and have reaffirmed their commitment to the financial sustainment of the Afghan security forces and the importance of strong security forces to peace in Afghanistan through to 2024 and beyond.
The commitment was made during NATO Defense Ministers’ meeting in Brussels last year in November and it was reaffirmed in Qayumi’s trip to Brussels on June 4 where he attended the plenary meeting of the Afghan National Army Trust Fund Board at NATO Headquarters.
The NATO-run Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund is one of three funding streams used by the International Community to channel its financial support to Afghanistan’s security forces and institutions.
The other two are the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), administered by the United Nations Development Program, and the United States Afghanistan Security Forces Fund (ASFF). LOTFA is used to pay the salaries of police and corrections personnel and to build the capacity of the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and the police.
The ASFF pays for equipping and running Afghanistan’s security forces, as well as facility and infrastructure repair, renovation and construction.
The alliance oversees nearly 16,000 troops in the country, with support from both NATO members and partner states. The largest contributor is the United States, which has 14,000 troops here.
“NATO sees its relationship with Afghanistan in the medium-term and long-term and, of course, will play a key role in bringing stability to Afghanistan,” Qayumi told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.
“NATO and partners commended all civilian and military reforms, government savings and the progress made in Afghanistan,” he said. “NATO and its allies reaffirmed not only their cooperation but also their long-term commitment to financially supporting ANDSF by 2024 and beyond.”
Critics said the comments by NATO allies come at a time that the Afghan government has lacked a “strong will” for improving the infrastructures of the Afghan forces in the past two decades.
