Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO foreign ministers have agreed to keep about 12,000 troops in Afghanistan through next year, while pushing forward with a funding drive to help the country through 2020.
Alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed the commitments — roughly 7,000 U.S. troops and 5,000 from other NATO member states and partners — following a meeting on Afghanistan Tuesday as part of a two-day gathering of NATO foreign ministers.
Stoltenberg called it a "very substantive" meeting on the Resolute Support mission that provides advice, training and assistance to Afghan security forces. As of October, NATO had over 13,100 troops in Afghanistan.
Stoltenberg also said several allies had given "a number of pledges" for new funding for Afghanistan, and NATO was hoping to firm up decisions on funding at its July summit in Warsaw.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.