Stoltenberg: Afghan leaders responsible for military collapse

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday blamed the swift collapse of Afghanistan on the "failure" of the country's leadership.

 Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General said "what we have seen in the last few weeks was a military and political collapse at the speed which had not been anticipated. Parts of the Afghan security forces fought bravely. But they were unable to secure the country because ultimately, the Afghan political leadership failed to stand up to the Taliban and to achieve the peaceful solution that Afghans desperately wanted. This failure of Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing today.

NATO has been leading international security efforts in Afghanistan since 2003 but wound up combat operations in 2014 to focus on training the national security forces. He added there were "many lessons" that need to be learned at NATO.