Publish dateWednesday 24 May 2017 - 15:11
Story Code : 143570
NATO Chief Urges Russia To Support Afghan-led Peace Process
Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of Thursday’s heads of state meeting that the aim was to find a politically negotiated solution to the Afghan war.

(AVA), Addressing a press conference on the eve of the Meeting of Heads of State in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday afternoon reiterated the organization’s commitment to Afghanistan but also called on Russia to support an Afghan-led peace process.

This was in answer to a question on Russia’s recent contact with the Taliban, which was posed by TOLOnews’ Lotfullah Najafizada at the press conference.

"The aim is to reconcile and find a negotiated solution. And this has to be an Afghan-led peace process.

"We have seen reports  (of Russia’s contact with the Taliban), but haven’t seen any proof of direct support to the Taliban from Russia,” he added.  

Asked what he expects from an increase in troops in Afghanistan, especially with Daesh being so strong in the country and the fact that they are not necessarily directly related to Daesh in the Middle East, Stoltenberg said the situation in Afghanistan today is very different to that a few years ago.

He said NATO and the U.S has been able to build up a strong Afghan national army and security force.

The security forces "have proven capable and professional and have proven able to fight the many different types of terrorist groups, including ISIS (Daesh) in Afghanistan" .

Adding troops now would be very different to the surge of foreign troops in 2010 - given that the aim within the NATO framework is to further strengthen the Afghan security forces and the air defenses, he said.

He said the Afghan security forces are able to hold their own ground against insurgent attacks today and that this is on the back of the train, advise and assist approach taken since the drawdown of combat troops in 2014.

“We have also transformed our approach to fighting terrorism. In Afghanistan, we have moved from a combat role to a training role. This has shown us the value of supporting local forces in their fight against terrorism.”

He did say however the situation in Afghanistan remains challenging but a decision on the way forward, in terms of sending in additional troops, will be announced soon.

But Stoltenberg emphasized that the aim of NATO in Afghanistan is to find a politically negotiated peace solution.

The NATO chief also condemned this week’s attack in Manchester, noting that countering terrorism requires a coordinated response.

With regards to the upcoming meeting he said this “will show that all NATO allies remain united in the fight against terrorism in all its forms.” 

He said on Thursday, NATO leaders “will take decisions to increase the alliance’s support to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (Daesh)”.

NATO allies will also address burden-sharing, including how to meet the pledge all allies made in 2014 – to stop the cuts; gradually increase and move towards spending 2 percent of GDP on defense within a decade.

“We will decide that allies will share and report on their progress every year,” said Stoltenberg.

He stressed that Thursday’s meeting will demonstrate NATO’s ability to change as the world changes.

Source : Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)
https://avapress.com/vdcjatevyuqexiz.92fu.html
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