LONDON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Echoing comments made by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, George Robertson called on defense officials not to let NATO become a two-tier alliance.
Roberson, a former NATO secretary-general and Lord of Port Ellen, Scotland, delivered a sharp speech at the Chatham House in London Thursday saying a repeat of terrorist attacks like those on Sept. 11, 2001, and July 7, 2005, are inevitable if the NATO mission in Afghanistan is allowed to fail, Chatham House reported.
In the speech to military and defense officials Robertson chided NATO countries for what he called different levels of military commitments echoing Gates' recent comments regarding countries that refuse to deploy troops to Afghanistan's more dangerous areas.
"There can be no two-tier alliance," Robertson said in a statement. "There cannot be one tier for those to carry the burdens and the bloody sacrifice and a tier for those who benefit from that contribution. Collective security is what it means -- collective. No more, no less."
Robertson, while praising the troops who serve and have served Afghanistan, warned that if Taliban operatives succeed, bloodshed is likely to return to Western countries.
"I hope that when NATO heads of state and government meet in Bucharest in a few weeks time (for the NATO Summit meetings) they will take a long look at the future of a great alliance which produced more than half a century of peace in Europe," Robertson said. "And when they do I hope they will recognize what they took on, and precisely what is required to finish the job."
