Slovakia will most probably follow the lead of allied powers, announced the Defence Ministry's Institute of Security and Defence Studies director Ivo Samson. This was announced at the Afghanistan and Beyond: Challenges in Defence Education and Training conference in Bratislava on Tuesday.
“If the United States remains [in Afghanistan] with a certain limited number [of soldiers] as advisors, training instructors – then Slovakia can do the same, albeit with fewer people,” announced Samson. The security director added that the Afghan security forces are impressive in terms of their numbers, but it remains questionable to what extent they are loyal towards the legally established and legitimate Afghan government. Regardless, it is assumed that the ISAF mission carried out by allied forces has had a notably positive influence on Afghanistan. “It has been a decade of huge investments spent on military matters and civil infrastructure, which simply must have left some mark on Afghanistan,” added Samson. Ivo Samson believes the mission in Afghanistan represented a turning point for Europe and NATO, saying that, “The success of this operation will foreshadow the destiny of future peace missions. It will show whether NATO is willing to address similar crises in the world outside Europe; or whether it would rather throw such chaotic areas to the wolves.”
Samson explained that prior to 2001 Afghanistan was a malfunctioning chaotic country, in which the central government completely controlled what's going on within its territory, adding that, “This country became a hotbed of terrorism, occasionally targeted at the USA. If the USA hadn't - as Senator John McCain often said - been considered the leader of the Western pack, the planes from Afghanistan could well have ended up in Moscow or in London.”
