NATO points finger at nations despite key role in Afghan crisis
Jerome Hughes
Press TV, Brussels
NATO accuses Russia, China, North Korea and Iran of blatantly breaking international rules with respect to arms control. Critics accuse the 30-nation alliance of gross hypocrisy given the devastating role some of its members have played in countries such as Afghanistan.
NATO has just concluded its 17th annual arms control conference with harsh criticism directed towards authorities in Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang and Tehran. NATO, led by the United States, continues to spend billions on military hardware but clearly does not like it when nations outside the alliance develop their own defense capabilities.
Iran has always stressed its nuclear program is purely peaceful. In fact, Tehran did all in its power to reassure the international community by signing up to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. It was the United States, under Donald Trump, that illegally withdrew from that nuclear accord.
The head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, failed to mention this once during his speech. In any case, experts say NATO is not in a position to point the finger. There are significant divisions within the 30-nation alliance. Its credibility is currently at rock bottom, critics argue, following its 20-year-long mission in Afghanistan.
Stoltenberg concluded his address to the arms control conference with these words: "You can count on NATO's commitment to security and stability."
That statement will likely cut to bone for any Afghan citizen able to hear it. Anti-war campaigners say the destruction NATO countries brought to Afghanistan during the past two decades cannot be put into words, and now those Afghan civilians, who somehow managed to survive, have no idea what the future holds.
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