Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said, Taliban has to understand that they will never win on the battlefield urged them to come to the negotiating table and agree to a political solution.
The secretary general said this while talking to media in a press conference on Thursday after the NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels. He added: “That’s the reason why we are providing military support, it’s to enable a political solution.”
We welcome any efforts to find a political solution and we strongly believe that this should be an Afghan-led and an Afghan-owned peace process, so therefore NATO supports the Afghan-led and the Afghan-owned peace process. Stoltenberg added.
Which also of course, at some stage, have to include finding a political solution with the Taliban. But Taliban has to understand that they cannot win on the battlefield, they have to sit down and negotiate. He said.
NATO secretary general said: “Our Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan is a condition-based mission and the aim is to continue to strengthen the Afghan national security forces, enabling them to secure their own country and to be fully responsible, as they now are, for security in Afghanistan. And we have seen a lot of progress.”
There are many problems in Afghanistan, we see violence, we see terrorism, we see attacks, terrible attacks again civilians, recently in Kabul, but we have also seen some progress, especially when it comes to the quality, the strength of the Afghan forces, he added.
We have helped to train their Special Operation forces, their air forces and also their Command and Control. And we are now increasing our presence in Afghanistan, to be able to provide even more support.
Not in a NATO combat operation, but to train and help and assist the Afghan forces. We don’t think that there is a military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, but we strongly believe that we need a strong Afghan force to be able to create the conditions for a political solution.
