Riz Khan - Nato secretary-general - 25 Sep 08 - Part 1

Riz speaks to the Nato secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, on the Russia-Georgia conflict, the ongoing violence in Afghanistan as well as the way forward for a more efficient and effective Nato.There has been a war of the words at the United Nations General Assembly after Ukraine rejected Russian pressure to prevent their entry into Nato on Wednesday, September 24, 200. Without specifically naming Russia, Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian president, condemned "all acts of aggression and the use of force that occurred in the region." Russia is opposed to Nato entry for both Georgia and Ukraine, saying that NATO expansion and its support of a planned US anti-missile system in the Czech Republic and Poland is a "strategic error."Relations between NATO and Russia sunk to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War after the recent conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi over Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia.As well as the fallout from the deteriorating relations Nato's secretary-general has also called for no interference in the way affairs are handled by the world body in Afghanistan.Nato troops have been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan for almost seven years following the September 11 2001 terror attacks on the United States. Seven years later the country is seeing a resurgence of violence, even as the US and Nato have poured in thousands of new troops. Now, against the backdrop of a world financial crisis, Nato is under pressure to provide $200 billion to fund doubling the size of the Afghan national army over the next five years.

Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: AlJazeeraEnglish

Length: 13:29
Rating: 3.71
Views: 585

Tags: Afghanistan  Czech  de  Georgia  Hoop  Jaap  Khan  Nations  Nato  Poland  Republic  Riz  Russia  Scheffer  Ukraine  United  

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