AIRLINK 81.10 Increased By ▲ 2.55 (3.25%)
BOP 4.82 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (1.05%)
CNERGY 4.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.68%)
DFML 37.98 Decreased By ▼ -1.31 (-3.33%)
DGKC 93.00 Decreased By ▼ -2.65 (-2.77%)
FCCL 23.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-1.32%)
FFBL 32.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.77 (-2.35%)
FFL 9.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.39%)
GGL 10.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.89%)
HASCOL 6.65 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.68%)
HBL 113.00 Increased By ▲ 3.50 (3.2%)
HUBC 145.70 Increased By ▲ 0.69 (0.48%)
HUMNL 10.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-1.77%)
KEL 4.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.33%)
KOSM 4.12 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-3.29%)
MLCF 38.25 Decreased By ▼ -1.15 (-2.92%)
OGDC 131.70 Increased By ▲ 2.45 (1.9%)
PAEL 24.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.98 (-3.79%)
PIBTL 6.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.42%)
PPL 120.00 Decreased By ▼ -2.70 (-2.2%)
PRL 23.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-1.85%)
PTC 12.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.89 (-6.85%)
SEARL 59.95 Decreased By ▼ -1.23 (-2.01%)
SNGP 65.50 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.46%)
SSGC 10.15 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (2.63%)
TELE 7.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.13%)
TPLP 9.87 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.2%)
TRG 64.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.08%)
UNITY 26.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.33%)
WTL 1.33 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.76%)
BR100 8,052 Increased By 75.9 (0.95%)
BR30 25,581 Decreased By -21.4 (-0.08%)
KSE100 76,707 Increased By 498.6 (0.65%)
KSE30 24,698 Increased By 260.2 (1.06%)

US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter will visit his European counterparts this week to take stock of co-operation with Nato in the wake of Russian aggression in Crimea and Ukraine.
The visit comes as officials say the military bloc's activity in Europe is at its strongest in decades. "This month the US and Nato have achieved their highest operational tempo of training and exercises since Cold War," a US defence official said Friday. The US official said Carter's visit is a chance to "acknowledge" how Nato member nations have responded to Russia's actions in the region, and also to discuss "what we need to continue doing."
Carter is set to travel to Germany Monday and to Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday before moving on to Belgium, where he will attend a Nato defence ministers meeting, his first Nato ministerial since taking over as Pentagon chief in February. While in Tallinn, Carter will meet with defence ministers from Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Pentagon said, two of which border Russia. All three countries have issued calls for the permanent presence of Nato troops in their territory.
But Nato states have been reluctant to grant the request, as deploying troops could undermine its Founding Act, signed with post-Communist Russia, to build a "lasting and inclusive peace." Amid mounting fears of Baltic and Eastern European nations about Russia's actions, Washington announced it was poised to station heavy equipment in the region, prompting Moscow to lash back with a threat to boost its own nuclear arsenal. The Pentagon official said the material would be used to train US troops in the region, downplaying Kremlin accusations that Nato was threatening its borders. "The material is currently allocated to Germany. The question we asked ourselves last year, over the period of increased exercises in Eastern Europe, is where is the optimum place to store the material to be efficient," the US official said.
Carter is expected to deliver a major policy speech Monday in Germany and will also travel to Munster in the north-west of the country with Berlin's Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, Dutch defence chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and Norwegian counterpart Ine Eriksen Soereide.
In Munster, Carter will also visit the 1st German-Netherlands Corps, Nato's interim rapid deployment joint task force. The United States - which has nearly 65,000 military personnel in Europe - has consistently called for European nations to increase military integration efforts and troop contribution to Nato and has said it would like to see more rapid response task forces of this kind established.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015

Comments

Comments are closed.