The uniformed leader of the Air Force vowed Tuesday that the U.S. will stand with NATO in the future, calling it “the strongest alliance on the planet.”
Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, made the remark at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber conference while thanking NATO air chiefs for attending the event in National Harbor, Maryland.
“We stand with you. This is the strongest alliance on the planet and we have stood with you before as you have stood with us and we will stand with you in the future,” Goldfein said.
Donald Trump this year said he would come to the defense of NATO partners under Article 5 only if they meet their financial obligations within the alliance. He later said he would leave the alliance if countries don’t pay up.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying that a concept was good, but now it’s obsolete or now it’s outmoded,” Trump said in March.
The remark drew criticism from defense analysts as well as top defense officials, pointing out that the only time Article 5 has been invoked was by the U.S. in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and that troops from NATO countries died in Afghanistan fighting alongside Americans.
“NATO has played an instrumental role in Afghanistan and helping the Afghan government and the Afghan security forces to restore decency and some stability to that country. We are working with NATO now on strengthening the deterrence of Russia,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa in March.
“There is a lot that NATO has done and is doing,” he continued.
Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, in June defended the alliance, saying that it’s “as relevant as ever,” but declined to wade into the U.S. election.
“We have many other concerns than the U.S. election campaign,” he said.
