”We must continue to stand together”
Op-ed article by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

This article was published in Die Welt and newspapers of the LENA group.

Afghanistan will not be the last crisis for which North America and Europe need to act together through NATO. There will always be those who wish to harm us. We saw this on 9/11 and in the many other terrorist attacks since. There will always be those who wish to harm us. We saw this on 9/11 and in the many other terrorist attacks since. We also saw it in Iraq and Syria when ISIS took control of a large swathe of territory….It was only by NATO Allies and our partners deploying military forces [in Iraq and Syria?] that we were able to liberate the land and people controlled by ISIS. Military action is always the last resort, but sometimes it is the only rational response.

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The use of force is not only an essential part of combatting terrorism. Military force is the ultimate guarantor of our freedom. Without a strong and credible military to back it up, diplomacy will fail. During the Cold War, it was NATO’s military might that gave strength to our diplomats and politicians to negotiate with the Soviet Union.

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There are also times when diplomacy fails and the military option is the only one left. This was the case in the 1990s, when wars in the Western Balkans were only brought to an end through military action….