The White House said that President Obama’s meeting with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg Monday had nothing to do with GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s recent comments that the 67-year-old alliance is “obsolete.”
Presidential press secretary Josh Earnest said the meeting was scheduled well in advance of Trump’s comments and said he would be “surprised” if there were “any extensive comments” regarding Trump’s recent comments that the post-WWII alliance needs some major retooling.
Despite these assurances, both Obama and Stoltenberg stressed NATO’s continued relevance in public comments to reporters Monday morning.
“NATO continues to be a lynchpin, a cornerstone” of U.S. security policy, Obama said.
Stoltenberg declined to respond to Trump’s recent remarks about the organization in a brief back and forth with reporters after the meeting. He called the alliance as “as important as ever,” and stressed that the organization’s budget is more robust than ever.
“We are now working on the biggest re-enforcement of NATO’s defense since the end of the Cold War,” he said.
Obama said the recent terrorist attack in Brussels also showed the need for NATO to remain focus on defeating the Islamic State and committed to the security of Europe and the world. In addition, he said, one of NATO’s main functions is stabilizing countries in the Middle East including Iraq and Libya and thanked NATO for being an “extraordinary partner,” in continuing to support the Afghan government and Afghan security forces in “pushing back against the Taliban.”
“We are grateful for the sacrifices that NATO countries have made,” he said. “The men and women have fought alongside US troops. They have fought together and they’ve died together.”
On the refugee crisis in Europe, he said NATO will work with the European Union to help prevent the tragedies witnessed last summer when migrants fleeing Syria’s civil war and the Islamic State were taking very dangerous trips to try to reach Europe.
NATO, he said, will work with Greece and Turkey to find “humane” measures to stem the crisis “even as we are also working together to bring an end to the Syrian conflict.”
When it comes to Ukraine, he said NATO and the U.S. are united in supporting Ukraine in the wake of Russian incursions into the country and “will help Ukraine defensively.”
The president also discussed his budget request of $3.4 billion for NATO to add an additional U.S. army brigade in Eastern Europe and said the organization is consulting with Russia to “reduce tensions and potential escalation.”
