ISTANBUL - The Istanbul Declaration, issued at the ongoing NATO Heads of State and Government Summit on Monday, said that Allied security was fundamental.
The North Atlantic Council, comprised of heads of state and government of 26 NATO member countries, issued the Istanbul Declaration under the title ''Our Security in a New Era.''
The Declaration said that NATO was still determined to address effectively the threats to their territory, forces and populations from wherever they might come, and approved a major expansion of NATO's role in Afghanistan.
The Istanbul Declaration pointed out that the threats that NATO faced had changed substantially, and said that those threats emanated from a far wider area than in the past and stressed NATO's determination to address effectively the threats.
''Today, we have approved a major expansion of NATO's role in Afghanistan in support of the Afghan authorities. We will commit the resources needed to make this mission a success,'' the Istanbul Declaration said.
The Istanbul Declaration said that ''NATO was transforming its military capabilities in order to adapt to the changing strategic environment'', and expressed ''its commitment to continued transformation and to further strengthen its operational capabilities and procedures so that our forces are more deployable and usable''.
(BRC-ULG) 28.06.2004