NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg congratulates Donald Trump

"I congratulate Donald Trump on his election as the next President of the United States. And I look forward to working with President-elect Trump...

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General; Donal Trump, US President-elect

... We face a challenging new security environment, including hybrid warfare, cyber attacks, the threat of terrorism. US leadership is as important as ever. Our Alliance has brought together America’s closest friends in times of peace and of conflict for almost 70 years. A strong NATO is good for the United States, and good for Europe.

NATO has responded with determination to the new security situation. But we have more work to do. And I look forward to meeting Mr. Trump soon, and welcoming him to Brussels for the NATO Summit next year to discuss the way forward. "

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General

During the US election campaign, Donald Trump stated that he likes NATO but that he doesn’t see the US in the role of world police, he claimed that the new Assistan Secretary General for Intelligence at NATO would refocus his activities to counter terrorism and that the Alliance is focusing more on counter terrorism because of his criticism.

Trump seemed to dismiss the facts that the collective defence of Europe is built on the architecture provided by the Alliance, the only time that NATO has invoked Article 5, its collective defence clause, was just after the attack on the United States on 11 September 2001, and thousands of soldiers from European NATO Allies and also from Canada have been in Afghanistan as a direct response to an attack on the United States.

Even more, NATO has played a key role in the fight against terrorism for many years. Its biggest operation ever, its military presence in Afghanistan, is a counter terrorism operation to prevent Afghanistan from becoming once again a safe haven for International terrorists.