Brexit impact for NATO

　　British voters' decision to leave the European question fueled concerns of NATO states many of them EU members about the unity of the EU bloc and possibly that of the security alliance itself.

　　In his closing remarks at the summit, Obama called on Britain and the European Union not to harden their stances as Britain begins to negotiate its exit from the EU. The discussions have been marked by acrimony, with EU leaders insisting that Britain leave quickly so as to end uncertainty and economic disruption.

　　The U.S leader called on both sides to accept Brexit as a reality and assume the referendum is “going to stick.”

　　More support for Afghanistan

　　At the two-day summit, NATO leaders pledged to continue training Afghan security forces into 2017 and to provide nearly $1 billion each year to support Afghan forces through 2020.

　　Together with contributions from the United States, that means the Western alliance will continue to provide about $4.5 billion per year for Afghan security forces.

　　The United States recently announced it would slow its withdrawal of troops, keeping 8,400 in Afghanistan through the end of Obama's presidency in early 2017. In Warsaw, NATO allies and partners said they would keep about 12,000 troops in Afghanistan into 2017.

　　The new NATO commitment is slightly lower than the approximately 13,000 international troops currently carrying out the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission to help train, advise and assist Afghan forces, according to senior U.S. administration officials. These numbers do not reflect additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan who are carrying out a counterterrorism mission against remnants of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, a senior administration official said Saturday.

　　Of the 8,400 U.S. troops that will remain in Afghanistan next year, 6,700 will be devoted to the Resolute Support Mission, U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, told reporters at the NATO summit Saturday.

　　Components

　　Scaparrotti said the air and special operations forces components of the train, advise and assist mission would remain the same, “if not with the same numbers,” while the conventional train, advise and assist component would be most affected by the decrease in troops.

　　“It will be a little less than what it has been to this point, so there will be less doing that TAA [train, advise and assist] in that area,” Scaparrotti said.

　　The continued support from Western countries reflects the worries about Afghanistan's security situation, at a time when Taliban forces continue to challenge Afghan forces, and IS has established a foothold in the country's south and east.

　　Senior administration officials say more than 2,000 U.S. troops will be devoted to the U.S. counterterrorism mission, dubbed Freedom's Sentinel.

　　Some of the U.S. troops will need to serve under both the Resolute Support Mission and the Freedom’s Sentinel Mission, senior administration officials said.

　　VOA Serbian service reporter Milena Djurdjic contributed to this report.