MONITORING (SW) – The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has the Alliance expects the Taliban not to launch spring offensives this year.
He said this addressing a press conference ahead of the meetings of NATO Foreign Ministers on 23 and 24 March 2021 at NATO Headquarters<span;
“Not many years ago, we had more than 100,000 troops in combat operation. Now we are roughly 10,000 troops, providing support, training, capacity building for the Afghan security forces, out of which more than the majority are non-US or from European allies and partner nations”, he said.
The NATO chief added it demonstrated the strength of the Afghan security forces and they have been able to fight back the Taliban attacks over several years. “When it comes to this spring in particular, of course what we expect is that Taliban does not launch any spring offensive”, he said adding the Taliban need to demonstrate their commitment to the peace agreement based on reduction of violence.
“We also expect Taliban to clearly demonstrate that they have stopped providing any support to Al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups. And of course, one of the issues we will very closely monitor, analyse and assess is to what extent, Taliban is living up to that part of the peace agreement, and their commitment so this will be one of many elements we will look into, when we make the final decisions on our future presence in Afghanistan”, said Stoltenberg.
Responding to a question about the troops’ withdrawal, NATO Secretary General said all options are on the table and no final decision has been taken. “The main focus now is to provide the support for the renewed efforts to make progress in the peace talks. Peace talks are the only ways to find a sustainable, political, lasting solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, and therefore we call on all parties to negotiate in good faith, and on the Taliban also to stop providing support to Al Qaeda or international terrorist groups, and then we need to see a reduction in the level of violence”, he said.
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