“The Taliban is still a real threat to Afghanistan,” says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

He was speaking to media at the launch of his annual report for 2016.

In response to a question over the challenges in Afghanistan, Stoltenberg said that: “There are many challenges in Afghanistan and there is still violence. The Taliban is still a real threat and we have many different terrorist groups that operate in Afghanistan.”

“I'm aware of the challenges and the difficulties in Afghanistan. Having said that, I would like to underline that we have achieved a lot together. When NATO troops arrived almost 15 years ago, we hardly had a functioning state and there was hardly any, or should I say any real national security force in Afghanistan.”

He says that NATO helped Afghanistan build an Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) consisting of 350,000 troops and police, and they are now able to take the responsibility of the security in their own country.                                                                                                                                                  

“NATO is projecting stability in many different ways and is contributing to the fight against terrorism. It's a fight we have been in for over 15 years. We have 13,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of our mission to train Afghan forces.  They are from 39 NATO member states and partner countries. They are training Afghan forces to help secure their country and deny safe havens to international terrorists,” he said.

“We have one approach in Afghanistan and we must not forget that Afghanistan is about fighting terrorism. The reason why we went into Afghanistan was a direct response to a terrorist attack on the United States and the main reason we still are in Afghanistan is to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for international terrorists,” he added.

His comments come as the insurgents have increased their attacks in different parts of the country. In a recent attack the Daesh insurgents targeting a military hospital in Kabul in which killing nearly 50 people and wounded nearly 100 others.

He also talked about the recent violence in Afghanistan and said that the NATO is aware of the high casualty numbers in terrorist attacks.

“So again, I'm not saying that it's easy. There are many challenges but compared to a time where NATO had more than a hundred thousand troops conducting big combat operations in Afghanistan, NATO now has 13,000 troops and the Afghans are responsible for security in their own country. In the long run, I'm absolutely confident that the only way that we can stabilize Afghanistan is that the Afghans take responsibility for their own future themselves,” he said.

“In the long run, they cannot be dependent on NATO sending tens of thousands of combat troops into combat operations fighting in Afghanistan. So yes, I understand this is difficult but I think the transformation from NATO conducting big combat operations to handing over responsibility for security in Afghanistan to the Afghans themselves has been a significant achievement that we have made together with the Afghan troops,” he added.

He reaffirmed that the NATO We will continue for their support from Afghanistan to develop the new capabilities of Afghanistan’s air forces.

“I met Afghan pilots being trained by NATO trainers, that's great to see. And then I want to also add that we will be, we are there to train, help, assist but we are also there with money, we are continuing to fund the Afghan National Army. We have committed until 2020 and we have a political dialogue. Part of that is to support all efforts to try to find a negotiated political solution and part of that is to involve neighbors like Pakistan. Good neighborly relations are of great importance to find a lasting peaceful solution to the conflict in Afghanistan,” said Stoltenberg.