NATO's secretary general sharply disputed Donald Trump's claims the GOP presidential nominee's criticism prompted the defense alliance to adopt a new focus on terrorism.

NATO "has been fighting terrorism for many years," Jens Stoltenberg told Foreign Policy in an interview posted Wednesday.

Stoltenberg also blasted Trump's declaration if he's elected president, the United States won't come to the defense of European NATO allies unless they pay more for their defense costs.

"Our collective defense guarantees are not conditional on defense spending," Stoltenberg told FP. "They are absolute, and that is why they've been so successful."

Trump first rattled NATO officials when he declared last March the 28-member alliance was an "obsolete" relic of the Cold War.

But he softened his stance last month, saying he would "work closely with NATO" because it has responded to his criticism.

"I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism," Trump said during the foreign policy speech in Youngstown, Ohio. "Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats."

Stoltenberg insisted a new high-level intelligence post NATO created to help combat terrorism had nothing to do with Trump.

"That was a decision that was taken a long time ago but is implemented now," he told FP.