Jens Stoltenberg Reflects on NATO’s Afghan Endeavor: A Candid Admission of Failure

Jens Stoltenberg, the former Secretary General of NATO, candidly acknowledged in a conversation with the Financial Times that the effort to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan was a failure for NATO and its allies…

Stoltenberg’s Confessions: Democracy in Afghanistan Beyond NATO’s Reach

Jens Stoltenberg, in a realistic assessment, analyzed the twenty-year international military presence in Afghanistan, emphasizing the shortcomings of ambitious state-building initiatives.

From Counterterrorism Success to State-Building Failure

Stoltenberg differentiated between NATO’s initial and secondary missions, noting that the early operations aimed at combating terrorism were successful. However, as time went on, the state-building project became overly ambitious, with objectives that exceeded the capacity of NATO and its international partners. The goal of creating a democratic Afghanistan with equal rights for women and men ultimately remained unfulfilled and ended in failure.

Strategic Necessity of Withdrawal

The former NATO Secretary General described the withdrawal of forces in 2021 as a strategic necessity. While he acknowledged the chaos surrounding the execution of the operation and the events at the Kabul airport, he asserted that remaining in a protracted conflict was not the right option. He characterized the evacuation of 100,000 individuals from Kabul as one of the largest and most complex operations in history.

The Ukraine War Connection and Lessons Learned

In response to criticisms suggesting that the withdrawal from Afghanistan paved the way for Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Stoltenberg stated, “Such an analysis is overly simplistic. The West’s weakness in supporting Ukraine began in 2014, and NATO’s exit from Afghanistan played no role in that context.” He noted that the experience in Afghanistan demonstrated that international state-building projects, if not grounded in local realities, internal capacities, and regional coordination, are unlikely to achieve sustainable success. Internal NATO documents also reveal that many objectives were set without taking into account the existing societal realities in Afghanistan. For instance, the UN Security Council has called for urgent changes in Taliban policies amid Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, highlighting the ongoing challenges faced in the region.