The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who addressed the NATO’s Foreign Ministers meeting in Washington D.C., said that in the Afghan peace talks they will make sure that the United States will never be threatened from Afghanistan’s soil and the sacrifices of the past 18 years are not “wasted”.
In last round of US-Taliban talks in Doha which ended after 16 days on March 14, the two sides agreed in draft on some key issues under debate, including US forces withdrawal and counterterrorism assurances.
“For nearly 18 years, NATO allies and partners have fought terrorism in Afghanistan. We’ve trained and advised and assisted the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. I updated our NATO counterparts on the work of Ambassador Khalilzad and his diplomatic undertaking that he is executing at my direction,” he said. “The United States will ensure that our collective sacrifices are not wasted and that terrorists can never again threaten us from Afghanistan’s soil.”
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is negotiating a peace agreement not a leave.
“Ambassador Khalilzad has stated many times that what he is negotiating is not at a leave agreement but a peace agreement,” he said. “And, of course, the overall aim of the negotiations which are going now is to reach a political agreement, which makes it possible to have peace in Afghanistan for the first time in many, many years.”
He reiterated that any peace deal should ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists.
“But as we have all stated many, many times, also, of course, in the consultations with Ambassador Khalilzad, is that we need to make sure that any peace deal ensures that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists, and has also to build on the achievements we have made, not least in in promoting the rights of women and girls related to education, basic human rights,” he said.
Stoltenberg once again emphasized that a part of any sustainable peace in Afghanistan should include Afghan reconciliation.
The NATO chief said that the presence of international forces in Afghanistan will be part of the peace agreement.
“Then the presence of international forces is part of these negotiations. So what kind of presence under what kind of framework? Well, that remains to be decided. That will be part of the agreement. In NATO we are now looking into different options for how NATO can support a potential peace agreement. But it’s far too early to conclude,” he explained.
He said that “the main issues now is to provide as much support as possible to the ongoing talks and then, based on that, we will make decisions on our future presence and in what form NATO Allies will or will not be part of any future international presence”.