During the meeting, Minister V.Ušackas emphasized that Afghanistan demonstrated the interrelation of the EU and NATO operations which also complemented one another.

“The EU-NATO cooperation on strategic and operational levels is an important prerequisite to ensure the security in Afghanistan and to strengthen its administrative capacities,” the Minister said.

The Minister stressed that it was especially important to explain to the societies of European countries our presence in Afghanistan and the relation of this presence to the security of European citizens on the streets of London, Berlin or Vilnius.

“The goal of the EU and NATO is not to allow Afghanistan to become a shelter for terrorists or their training centre and also a threat for all of us,” Minister V.Ušackas said.

According to the Minister, we have to assist the new authorities of Afghanistan in developing adequate administrative capacity which would allow for the consolidation of stability in the country and for the transparent governance of the state.

Minister V.Ušackas also supported the proposal to urgently draw up a security agreement between the EU Police Mission and the NATO’s military operation in Afghanistan. The Ministers agreed to continue to hold such EU-NATO meetings.

Lithuania has been leading the Provincial Reconstruction Team in the Ghor Province of Afghanistan since 2005. The civilian and military personnel from Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Japan, Romania, Ukraine and the U.S.A. serve and work hand in hand with the Lithuanian troops and civilians in the Ghor Provincial Reconstruction Team.

On 16 November, the tenth shift of the Lithuanian soldiers started their service in the Ghor Provincial Reconstruction Team. NATO-led International Security Assistance Force commander, General Stanley McChrystal took part in the official ceremony of the change of the Lithuanian contingents. About 150 Lithuanian soldiers serve in the Ghor Provincial Reconstruction and a unit is deployed in Afghanistan’s south.