NATO Chief: Taliban Can Never Return to Power

Vows to Continue War, Insisting 'Defeat Is Not an Option'

Ever enthusiastic about continuing the Afghan War, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen dismissed all timetables for withdrawing from Afghanistan, insisting the war would continue however long it takes to “finish the job.”

Rasmussen’s goals appear myriad, but he vowed today that the Taliban would never be allowed to return to power in Afghanistan and also that al-Qaeaa would never be allowed to have any refuge in Afghanistan. “Defeat is not an option,” he maintained,

He claimed, as so many other officials have, that progress is being made toward this goal and that the Taliban are “under pressure” despite the ever increasing death tolls across the nation. But he stopped short of predicting any victory any time soon, using his talk mostly to emphasize just how long the war was going to continue.

Rasmussen was among the first to openly embrace Gen. David Petraeus’ call for 2,000 additional troops for the war, and has been aggressive in petitioning NATO nations to provide ever increasing numbers of troops to the war. He has also openly opposed a 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.