Meeting of Defence Ministers: New Structure Approved

As regards the operational priorities, the Ministers reaffirmed NATO’s commitment to continuing its attacks on Libyan targets to protect the civilian population. During the two-day meeting, the participants agreed to re-shape NATO’s command structure. The structural reforms are aimed at downsizing the current 13,000-strong structure by more than 4,000.

Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende said that Hungary is not directly affected by the transformation, so during the talks he stressed the need for developing a more efficient command structure for NATO’s functioning and core missions.
He added that in the course of the just approved agency reform, the NATO Airlift Management Agency (NAMA) – which is responsible for the Hungary-based SAC C-17 fleet – would be integrated into another agency, but this would not be a disadvantage to our country. The NATO policy on cyber defense was also approved at the meeting. As Dr. Csaba Hende said, the Alliance adopts a pro-active approach in this field to protect its information systems against cyber threats, with a view to maintaining and restoring the operability of the attacked systems in case of network intrusions.
In the presence of their counterparts from the (non-NATO) ISAF partner countries, the Defence Ministers concluded that the NATO-led ISAF’s phased handover of security to the Afghan National Army (ANA) is going according to schedule. At the same time, they agreed that they are not heading for the exit.

Dr. Csaba Hende added that the handover of security is not about ISAF’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, but rather about the ways of transforming the international presence in the country and the handover of specific areas of responsibility. The Defence Minister told us that the tasks of the strongest Hungarian contingent in Afghanistan will not change for the time being, because the transition to Afghan lead in Baghlan Province is the issue of the coming years.