President Obama: America ‘Not as Divided as Some Have Suggested’

Alliance leaders also agreed to begin a new naval mission in the Mediterranean and made commitments to maintain a stable military presence in Afghanistan and to fund Afghan security forces through 2020.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Barack Obama on Saturday rejected the notion that this week’s stunning violence is a signal that the US has returned to some of the darkest days of its past, saying that as painful as the killings of police and black men were, “America is not as divided as some have suggested”.

The president said the 28 nation alliance was at a “pivotal moment”.

“We are not seeking confrontation with Russian Federation”. On his flight to Spain, he called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to offer his condolences on behalf of the American people, the White House said.

“That includes protesters”, Obama said, speaking from Warsaw, where he attended the NATO Summit. But he concluded that with the multifaceted efforts being made, “NATO is as strong, as nimble and as ready as ever”.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation leaders agreed on Friday to station four new battalions numbering around 4,000 troops – including 650 British personnel – in eastern Europe.

He said he would bring together civil rights and law enforcement leaders for talks at the White House next week after returning from a trip to Europe and urged Americans not to see the country as being riven into opposing groups.

The president spoke sympathetically of police officers in gun-filled communities who have “very little margin of error” when deciding how to engage with people on the street who may well be armed, whether they mean harm or not. In Warsaw, NATO allies and partners said they would keep about 12,000 troops in Afghanistan into 2017. Specific numbers will be finalized this fall, he said. Yes, we continue to speak out against what they are doing that we think is counterproductive to security in our region.

“Training local forces is often our best weapon against violent extremism”, he said. But he said there will be fewer US troops training Afghan conventional forces, although the USA will still send teams into the regions to assist the army and police.

It followed an announcement by President Barack Obama, 54, that the remaining 8,400 U.S. troops in the country are to stay on for the rest of his presidency in the face of the worsening security situation. Senior administration officials say more than 2,000 USA troops will be devoted to the US counterterrorism mission, dubbed Freedom ” s Sentinel.

The planned force levels allow NATO allies to remain in regional hubs around Afghanistan, with Germany in the north, Italy in the west, Turkey in the capital of Kabul and the United States in the east and south.

The alliance faces a variety of security threats “both from the east and from the south; from state and non-state actors; from military forces and from terrorist, cyber, or hybrid attacks”, leaders said in their final declaration.

But the divisive issue of gun control could not be separated from the tension between police and local citizens, he said. “It will make it harder”.

Mr Putin is, however, unlikely to miss the symbolic importance of the summit being held in Warsaw, the birthplace of the Soviet-era Warsaw Pact, once Nato’s adversary.

Four battalions of as many as 1,000 soldiers each will be stationed in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on a rotational basis from next year.

Noting that next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the first deployment of USA troops on European soil during World War One, he said: “In good times and in bad, Europe can count on the United States, always”.

“In good times and bad Europe can count on the United States”, he said.

Meanwhile, ex-USSR chief Mikhail Gorbachev told Interfax news agency on Sunday: “Despite NATO assurances that it seeks deterrence and dialogue with Russia, NATO seems to be preparing to escalate conflict”.