BRUSSELS
\nLong-serving NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg has no plans to extend his mandate for a fourth time and expects to be replaced in October, the military alliance said Sunday. \u201cThe mandate of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has been extended three times and he has served for a total of almost nine years,\u201d spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said.
\n\u201cThe Secretary General\u2019s term comes to an end in October of this year and he has no intention to seek another extension of his mandate.\u201dThe 63-year-old former Norwegian prime minister took office at NATO\u2019s Brussels headquarters on October 1, 2014 and has overseen the Western alliance through several international crises.
\nUnder his term in office the last NATO personnel and US forces left Afghanistan in August 2021, shortly before the capital Kabul fell to victorious Taliban forces, who revived their Islamist regime.
\nStoltenberg has also overseen NATO\u2019s response to Russia\u2019s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war, the most brutal on European soil since the 1940s.
\nHe has been a respected secretary general and in particular a bridge between the European allies and Washington under former US president Donald Trump, a frequent NATO critic.
\nDiplomats from several NATO allies had speculated that Stoltenberg\u2019s mandate could be extended once again until a summit next year to mark 75 years of the alliance. But, after a visit to Washington last week, his office announced he would not seek another extension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS Long-serving NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg has no plans to extend his mandate for a fourth time and expects to be replaced in October, the military alliance said Sunday. \u201cThe mandate of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has been extended three times and he has served for a total of almost nine years,\u201d spokeswoman Oana Lungescu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-313337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n