Defense Minister Talat Xhaferi met Monday in Skopje with the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Operations, Ambassador Stephen Evans to discuss cooperation between Macedonia and NATO, particularly the country's engagement in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

The mission and contribution by the Macedonian troops are highly valued in view of all the tasks performed by our servicemen in Afghanistan, according to the minister.

"We've upheld the conclusions that the NATO forces and their partners are ready to fully wrap up the ISAF mission in Afghanistan in order the national institutions to be able to play the role of mentors, support and advisory body in a new, non-military and non-combat mission in Afghanistan," said Xhaferi.

Ambassador Evans welcomed Macedonia's preparedness to take part in this mission of trainings and assistance after 2014.

"It will be a NATO-led mission for training, assisting and advising that will be different from the current one - it will be a smaller, non-combat mission. It will provide the necessary and crucial support, training and advising of the security forces in Afghanistan," Evans elaborated.

The NATO official stressed that Macedonian troops in Afghanistan were executing key tasks, such as securing the ISAF main command in Kabul. "By the end of 2014, Afghanistan's security forces will take over the control of their country's security. The ISAF mission will be successfully completed, but it won't be the end of NATO-Afghanistan relations."