NATO weighs Afghan lessons of waging major ops abroad

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers are weighing what lessons to draw from the military mission in Afghanistan, including whether to even undertake major operations outside Europe and North America. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Afghanistan “highlights the challenges and the risks to engage in big missions and operations outside NATO territory.” But, he said Thursday, “the lesson cannot be that we will never engage.” NATO took control of international security efforts in Afghanistan in 2003. It ended combat operations in 2014 to train local security forces. NATO helped build up an Afghan army of some 300,000 troops, but that force withered in just days in August in the face of a Taliban offensive.