Brussels
The 30-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has deferred their decision on whether to withdraw all foreign troops from Afghanistan by May 1, as required by the peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban.
But hours before Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced the decision at a virtual news conference on Thursday afternoon, the US assured Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that Washington will continue to consult Kabul before taking any final decision.
Secretary Blinken’s telephone call to President Ghani followed Stoltenberg’s statement on Wednesday that the military alliance will only leave Afghanistan when security conditions allow.
“We will only leave when the time is right and the focus now is on how we can support the peace talks,” he told reporters after the first day of the Nato defence ministers’ conference.
The virtual conference was expected to take a final decision on the May 1 withdrawal deadline, set in the US-Taliban agreement signed early last year. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin represented Washington in the conference.
Soon after the two-day conference ended on Thursday afternoon, the Pentagon released a report in Washington which quoted Stoltenberg as saying that the ministers also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the progress of the peace process and decided to “defer their decision”.
Alliance defence ministers, however, agreed to raise the number of troops for the Nato Mission in Iraq from 500 to 4,000, Stoltenberg said at his virtual news conference.
“We are faced with many dilemmas, and there are no easy options,” said Stoltenberg while explaining why the alliance did not announce a decision on Afghanistan.
“At this stage, we have made no final decision on the future of our presence. But as the first of May deadline is approaching, Nato allies will continue to closely consult and coordinate in the coming weeks,” he said.
Stoltenberg urged Taliban leaders to live up to their commitments in the peace agreement to reduce violence, disown terrorist groups and negotiate honestly with the Afghan government. “The peace process is the best chance to end years of suffering and violence and bring lasting peace,” he said. “It is important for the Afghan people for the security of the region and for our own security.”
