MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - NATO made a number of mistakes during its Afghan campaign, though, the operation was not a failure, Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper on Sunday.
“Many things indicate that our biggest mistake has been to pin big hopes on this mission, without investing significant funds,” Steinmeier said.
German Foreign minister added that the US-led coalition wanted not only to eliminate the security threat posed by Afghanistan, but also to lead the country into the future matchable with the NATO's ideas.
“Meanwhile, drug trade is flourishing in Afghanistan, corruption is present at all levels, powerful warlords dominate certain territories and violence reigns in patches. We started to celebrate a victory over the Taliban too early,” Steinmeier added.
The minister, however, claimed the Afghan campaign has not failed, as local terrorism does not represent an international threat anymore.
About 41,000 NATO troops remain in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban insurgency alongside Afghan soldiers and police. NATO’s combat mission will end in December. On September 30, the United States, NATO and Afghanistan signed a deal to formally justify the presence of a limited military contingent in the Central Asian state after the formal withdrawal of international forces. A follow-on contingent of about 12,000 troops is likely to stay into 2015 on training and support duties.
