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KABUL: The period of reduction of violence across Afghanistan was an important period for the Afghan people said US forces and Resolute Support Commander Gen. Scott Miller who visited Special Operations Corps in Kabul with Deputy Defense Minister Yasin Zia.
“It’s a start for the peace pathway. And what I would say is that all sides, but especially the military of all sides, have obligations to make sure that pathway is achievable. We have shown restraint with the Afghan security forces and we’ve shown restraint because we know that’s the will of the Afghan people. The Taliban have obligations and we need them to live up their obligations. And if they don’t, we have the necessary responses,” Miller added.
In regards to the peace deal with the Taliban, Miller said, “The agreement is fragile if the Taliban are not going to lower violence. That causes a risk of this agreement, which is why we’ve gone directly to the Taliban, and said you need to lower your violence. Otherwise, it’s hard to have an agreement.”
First of all, as we look at our force posture, we’re always prepared to optimize our force to make sure we’re set as well as possible and still have the ability to accomplish all of our campaign objectives, he added.
“We’ve worked very closely with General Zia, with the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Interior and the national leadership to make sure they understand our force posture. We’ll be fine. We have all the capabilities we need to continue the necessary support to the Afghan security forces, but all the capabilities we need to support peace as well. We’re always in the process of making sure we have the forces as effectively postured as possible,” he furthered.
“We continue to support the Afghan security forces. That includes with air support, if required, in defense of the Afghan security forces. So that continues, and we work that very closely as a joint effort between the forces. But again, I go back to the objective here is to lower violence on all sides. And a lowering of violence is, again, our expectation. And with discussions with the Taliban, very direct discussions, they need to lower their violence,” he added.
