Secretary of Defense Ash
Carter met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Pentagon March
26, discussing a range of security challenges shared by the US and the
transatlantic Alliance. Specifically, Carter and Stoltenberg addressed NATO’s
commitment to the
training
and assistance mission in Afghanistan,
NATO
assurance activities, and Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine,
according
to a read out of the meeting. The meeting, the first of the two leaders, occurred
after the conclusion of NATO’s Allied Command Transformation seminar in
Washington, D.C., where NATO officials gathered to discuss the evolution of the
Alliance’s military capabilities and the threat posed by
Russia’s
embrace of “hybrid warfare” tactics. Carter assured Stoltenberg the US would
participate in NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, and thanked the Secretary
General for Alliance member nation participation in both US and NATO
reassurance activities in Europe. The two leaders pledged to consult further in
the coming months, as NATO gears up for its annual defense ministerial meeting
this coming June.
