KABUL (SW) – The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that a peace deal in Afghanistan is closer now than ever before.
He said this ahead of NATO's Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels.
He said all NATO Allies strongly support the peace efforts. “And the best way to do that is to stay committed to Afghanistan, to continue to provide political support but also to continue to support the Afghan army and security forces with trainers and with funding”, he said.
Stoltenberg said the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, is consulting closely with all NATO Allies. “Of course, one of the important aspects of any potential peace deal will be how can we have mechanism in place to make sure that it is respected, implemented, verifiable. Therefore, it is no easy way to peace but we need a political solution. We need a negotiated solution”, he said.
He added the best way to support those peace efforts is to provide train, advise and assist support to the Afghan army and security forces because the Taliban has to understand that they will never win on the battlefield. “They have to sit down at the negotiating table. The United States and other NATO Allies and partners still suffer casualties and I express my condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and family members. That just underpins the message of peace that we are still witnessing casualties among Afghans but also of course among NATO troops”, he added.
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