"[NATO has entered] An age where we must do both collective defence and manage crises and promote stability beyond our borders,'' Stoltenberg said in comments delivered at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, offered no conditions or geographical limitations about the terms or countries in which NATO aims to promote stability, as Alliance's "long experience…tells us that an essential ingredient of long term stability is the strength of local forces and local institutions."
However, since the end of the Cold War, NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to force it to withdraw from Kosovo with the aim to stop potential genocide, according to NATO's official stance, as well as provided air support for forces in Libya in 2011 that toppled and murdered national leader Muammar Gadhafi and now provides increasing support and training for Ukraine and Georgia.
"NATO was adept at playing role out of area after end of Cold War. [It] (b)uilt [an] effective coalition in Afghanistan to eradicate al-Qaeda," Stoltenberg also stated and tweeted.
However, al-Qaeda remains active in Afghanistan after 15 years of US and NATO military operations there and the Taliban continues to increases the number of regions where it is active and controls large areas.
