As the Former NATO Senior Civilian Representative for Afghanistan, Hikmet Çetin clarifies NATO’s role in Afghanistan. He describes the social and economic problems that are intertwined with the security challenges and highlights the ongoing collaboration with the Afghan government, neighboring countries and NATO Partners in this complex effort. Çetin shares his insights as to how misperceptions about NATO’s mission can be overcome and concludes by underlining that NATO will remain on the ground until self sustaining local security structures are established...