Washington, April 23: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has announced that the Western alliance needed a credible nuclear deterrent.
“NATO should play its part and we will discuss (exactly what that should be) based on the clear principles of solidarity, shared burdens and the need to ensure deterrence in an uncertain world,” he said.
Rasmussen noted that he was in favor of a world free of nuclear weapons, but NATO must retain a nuclear capability to counter threats from what he called terrorist groups.
“We must retain a nuclear capability as long as there are rogue regimes or terrorist groupings that may pose a nuclear threat to us,” said Rasmussen.
He made the remarks on Thursday just as a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn was due to begin.
The NATO chief also stressed the need for unity among the 28 NATO states.
The two-day NATO foreign-ministerial conference will mostly discuss nuclear policy, as well as relations with Russia and Afghanistan.
——Agencies