Putin Haunts NATO Summit As Leaders See Threat On All Fronts
By Ian Wishart, Helene Fouquet and Isobel Finkel
WARSAW - NATO leaders pledged to bolster Europe's defenses in the face of what they called an "arc of insecurity and instability" from Moscow to North Africa.
Heads of the alliance's 28 countries meeting in Warsaw asserted their determination to remain united in tackling challenges from an aggressive Russia under President Vladimir Putin and Islamic State terrorism. With President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron soon to be out of office and elections next year in France and Germany, the world's uncertain future was a dominant theme of the two-day summit.
"In the nearly 70 years of NATO, perhaps never have we faced such a range of challenges all at once: security, humanitarian, political," Obama told reporters on Saturday at the summit's close. "In this challenging moment I want to take this opportunity to state clearly what will never change: the unwavering commitment of the United States to the security and defense of Europe."
The outcome of the meeting, billed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as a landmark summit, encapsulated leaders' concerns that they're under attack on more than one front: they fleshed out a plan to deploy troops in eastern Europe to counter Russia, agreed to step up work to thwart people-smugglers in the Mediterranean and decided to increase training of Iraqis to take on Islamic State.
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