NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks at a news conference in Washington Sept. 29, 2009. UPI/Alex Wong/POOL |
License Photo
LISBON, Portugal, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- NATO ministers agreed to develop missile defense capabilities to cover all European territory and the United States, U.S. President Obama said Friday.
"I'm pleased to announce that for the first time, we've agreed to develop a missile defense capability that's strong enough to cover all NATO European territory and populations, as well as the United States," Obama told reporters during a NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal. "The progress that we've already made here today gives me great confidence that this will be a landmark summit in Lisbon."
Leaders of the trans-Atlantic alliance also agreed on a rough timeline for their strategy on Afghanistan but struggled on finding compromise language on a new mission statement designed to explain NATO's post-Cold War relevance, The New York Times reported.
Issues remaining on the strategic doctrine concern nuclear disarmament, with Germany and France at odds over a non-nuclear world, officials said. Germany wants to include movement toward a non-nuclear world while France, with its own nuclear weapons, saying it doesn't to undermine the need for nuclear deterrence.
Obama also stressed to reporters the need for the U.S. Senate to ratify the new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms disarmament treaty.
"As I have said, this is a national security imperative for the United States," Obama said. "But just as it is a national security priority for the United States, the message that I've received since I arrived from my fellow leaders here at NATO could not be clearer: (The) new (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) will strengthen our alliance and it will strengthen European security."
The administration had hoped the Senate would ratify the treaty during the lame-duck congressional session, but Republicans, led by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., have said the document needs fuller discussions after the new Congress convenes in January.
Concerning Afghanistan, ministers agreed that NATO will begin in 2011 to gradually transfer security responsibilities to the Afghan government, its troops and police, the Times said. The entire process would conclude at the end of 2014. Obama has called for the beginning of troop withdrawals to begin next year, depending on ground conditions.
