27 May 2012

NATO summit decided on plan to withdraw from Afghanistan

Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreed at the recent summit in Chicago on the security transition for Afghanistan, starting in 2013.

President Obama stated at the summit that NATO member states are ‘unified behind a plan to responsibly wind down the war in Afghanistan’. The plan of withdrawing 130.000 NATO troops by 2014 is ‘irreversible’. He however also stated that Afghanistan will not be abandoned, at least some troops will stay after 2014.

France will withdraw its combat troops from Afghanistan already at the end of this year.

Source: New York Times | NATO Agrees on Afghan Security Transition in 2013

13 April 2012

President Obama Recalls ‘Shared Responsibility’ of States to Protect Civilians and Prevent Genocide

On April 06, 2012, on the 18th Anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, the President of the U.S. Barack Obama issued a statement in which he refers to the ‘haunting’ memory of the extermination of about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. He further mentions a shared responsibility of all States to protect populations and to prevent the occurrence of genocide. More specifically, he affirms that the anniversary of the Rwandan genocide ‘reminds the nations of the world of our shared responsibility to do all we can to protect civilians and to ensure that evil of this magnitude never happens again’.

Source: The White House | Statement by the President on the 18th Anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda