BRATISLAVA, April 16, (WEBNOVINY) — U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (ISA) Alexander Vershbow pointed out that Slovakia’s defense budget is low and constantly on decline. “This is not only Slovakia’s problem but of most NATO members. This trend has caused that the United States financially covers up to 75 percent of NATO operations versus the original 50 percent,” Vershbow said. Vershbow held a meeting with Slovak Defense Ministry State Secretary Robert Ondrejcsak who is on a business trip in the United States. This situation is unsustainable for the United States on a long-term horizon and the U.S. administration struggles to explain this condition to its supporters. It is not possible to rely on the United States to always cover the defense deficit, Vershbow concluded.
He praised Slovakia for the prepared strategic defense assessment and its strong involvement in Afghanistan, particularly boosting its presence in the country and planned deployment of special troops that will also operate outside military bases. Ondrejcsak expects the strategic defense assessment to help meet Slovakia’s commitments towards NATO. The first outcomes will be available in May. “The strategic assessment shows the need to pool and share certain capabilities with partner countries. This would save a great amount of finances while capabilities of individual states would remain intact,” the Slovak MoD state secretary declared.
At the meeting, Vershbow and Ondrejcsak also tackled the future of ISAF mission in Afghanistan, with the United States being the leader. The pace of U.S. troops’ withdrawal depends on the abilities of the Afghan government and the armed forces to take over the responsibility for the country. In Vershbow’s words, training of Afghan forces and help in infrastructure construction are priorities in this area.
The information was provided by Lukas Milan of the Defense Ministry’s communication and press department.
SITA