Stefano Pontecorvo, the Senior Civilian Representative of NATO to Afghanistan said that foreign troops would continue assisting the Afghan forces “as long as needed”.

In an exclusive interview with Ariana News, Stefano Pontecorvo said that the decision in this regard would be made by the Afghan government.
Pontecorvo added that the Taliban’s high level of violence is unacceptable, noting that the government’s concerns about not releasing the remaining Taliban prisoners are legitimate.
Given the stalemate over the release of prisoners, he called on both laterals to show flexibility in achieving peace. He also legitimizes the Afghan government’s concern about the remaining Taliban prisoners.
“Although the prisoner release is slowly proceeding, we would like to see this stepped up a bit, but there are issues which are real issues on the side of the government on releasing the remaining number of prisoners. We call for flexibility from all sides,” NATO SCR Stefano Pontecorvo told Ariana News.
This high-ranking NATO civilian official considers it important to build internal consensus at the leadership level to achieve peace. He says the countries of the region and the world have agreed on a general consensus in this regard. He also says that the presence of the forces of NATO in Afghanistan will be at the request of the Afghan government.
“We don’t want to stay here forever, but we are committed to assisting for as long as we need to be here, and that will be decided by the Afghan government.”
Meanwhile, NATO Envoy called on the Taliban to remain committed and credible in achieving peace.