Successful Conference Closes in Budapest

NATO continues to closely monitor the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, and considers it a priority to protect Syria’s neighbor, Turkey, the chairman said. Concerning Kosovo, NATO has seen progress in the ability of the local institutions to sustain stability and law and order, but there is still work to do, and the international peacekeeping force, KFOR will continue to stay vigilant. Any further decision will be taken based on improvements on the ground, the general said.

Talking about Afghanistan – another issue which was top of the agenda at the conference – he said that “NATO’s Chiefs of Defence expressed their commitment to continuing to support the Afghan forces the once ISAF’s operation is over by training, advising and assisting them to build on the progress we have made so far together."

Gen. Tibor Benkő, the Chief of the Defence Staff thanked Gen. Knud Bartels for his words of appreciation. The success of the conference is at once Hungary’s success, he added.

All topics on the agenda of the conference have involved and continue to involve the Hungarian Defence Forces as well. Afghanistan is a priority for Hungary too, as Hungarian troops have been deployed in the country for more than ten years now. Their withdrawal started in this spring. The HUN PRT has finished its over six-and-a-half-year work, and the Hungarian contingent deployed at Kabul International Airport in a force protection role will be withdrawn in this autumn. There is unanimous agreement regarding the continuing assistance to Afghan security forces, and Hungary must assume a role in this too, the general said.

Speaking about the Balkans, in accordance with Minister of Defence Csaba Hende’s opinion expressed in his opening remarks on September 14, Gen. Benkő noted that the withdrawal of Hungarian forces from the Afghanistan mission would open up the opportunity to help sustain stability and security in this region through the redeployment of our forces.

Concerning Syria, in light of the US–Russian agreement announced on September 14, the Chief of Defence reiterated Minister Hende’s words: if Hungary is requested to act, it will contribute a military force which is ready to detect the presence and analyze/assess the effects of chemical weapons and destroy them if need be. This capability is represented by a mobile biological laboratory, which has already been deployed in international operations.

Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky