NATO rules out Afghan govt collapse, civil war

The Afghan National Army (ANA) and police would be capable of securing their entire country by the end of 2014 and beyond, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) hoped on Tuesday. Dominic Medley, spokesman for the NATO senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, said to the capability of Afghan security forces improved with each passing day, as proved by the transition process. In response to the International Crisis Group (ICG) report, he said the Afghan forces were taking the lead for security across the country and the process would continue in the next two years. The ICG warned Afghanistan it was nearing a devastating political crisis, as the Karzai administration prepared to take full security control in 2014. “There is a real risk that the regime in Kabul could collapse upon NATO’s withdrawal in 2014,” said Candace Rondeaux, the ICG senior Afghanistan analyst. The Afghan army and police were overwhelmed and underprepared for transition, believed Rondeaux, who said: “Another botched election and resultant unrest would push them to breaking point.” But Dominic Medley insisted the global fraternity’s commitment to Afghanistan had been very solid over the last 10 years. That commitment would continue after 2014, when most foreign troops would leave the country, he said. “NATO does not view the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces or the collapse of Afghanistan into civil war, as a viable prospect because all Afghans and the international community are working toward a secure, stable, prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan. “Everyone is working in the same direction and nobody in the international community, but most importantly, not a single Afghan who is interested in the future of Afghanistan, is interested in civil war. Everyone has learnt their history of Afghanistan. Afghanistan will not be abandoned after 2014.” The world had committed billions of dollars to Afghanistan in the last decade and for years after 2014, he continued, explaining NATO would be training, advising and assisting Afghan forces. “The likelihood of civil war is not a picture I personally view as a very valid prospect for Afghanistan. Fundamentally, because nobody, especially the Afghan people, wants a civil war again,” he concluded.