Gen John R. Allen delivers a speech

The future of Afghanistan and especially that of the Afghan Security Forces (ASF) were among the main themes of the speech delivered by General John R. Allen, former Commander ISAF (COM ISAF), at the Slovak Ministry of Defence. The Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Security gave an assessment of NATO's 10-year-long engagement in Afghanistan. In his speech, he highlighted the overall progress made in Afghanistan, ranging from the improved security situation and higher quality of the Afghan Security Forces, through to higher literacy and life expectancy. He alerted the audience to the challenges that lie ahead of Afghanistan, the region as such and the international community. The issue of having the ISAF mission replaced by Operation Resolute Support at the end of this year is of great importance also for Slovakia. In this respect, General John R. Allen emphasized the need to ensure the continuity of training for the Afghan Security Forces (ASF) as a basic pillar of Afghanistan's future. As part of his visit to the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic, General John R. Allen met with 1st Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff SVK Armed Forces Lt Gen Peter Gajdoš and 2nd Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff SVK Armed Forces Maj Gen Pavel Macko.