NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels endorsed the Alliance’s follow-on post-combat mission in Afghanistan, according to a release. They came together on June 25 on the “detailed operational plan” for Resolute Support, the NATO-led mission to train, advise, and assist Afghan security forces that will commence once the current ISAF combat mission concludes at the end of the year, said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. However, the Afghans must take the next step by signing the follow-on security agreements that will allow NATO troops to remain in the country, he said. The Alliance has not decided on the exact figures for the Resolute Support force, but there have been “concrete announcements” from several countries committing to the future mission, said Rasmussen at a press conference later that same day. A force-generation conference is scheduled for the beginning of July, where the announcement of final troop commitments should occur, he said. “This will not only be a US mission,” said Rasmussen. “Other allies and partners will contribute and some of them in a quite significant manner,” he said.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…
