NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the regional countries need to play a role in peace and stability in Afghanistan.
In an interview with TOLOnews in Brussels, Stoltenberg said NATO has received reports that some countries in the region are supporting the Taliban but urged them not to help the group and instead stand by Afghanistan and its peace efforts.
“We have seen some reports about support from these countries to the Taliban and I call on all countries in the region to not support the Taliban but engage in an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and support the Afghan government,” he said.
“We call on Pakistan to be constructive and to participate,” he added.
On a question about NATO's move to send Qatar and UAE troops to Afghanistan, he said the two countries are partners of the alliance and should not provoke other countries in the region, Iran in particular.
“UAE is a partner and there are many partners which have been part of both ISAF operation early but now the Resolute Support mission. So there are many partner nations which have participated all the way in the NATO mission. Resolute Support mission is not about NATO allies but also about other partners. UAE and Qatar and many other countries from Sweden, Finland, Georgia are partners," he said.
Once again the NATO chief stated that the war in Afghanistan does not have a military solution therefore the Taliban should engage in the negotiation process.
“We don’t believe there is a military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan but we believe that we need strong Afghan security forces, army, police, to convince Taliban that they cannot win on the battlefield; they have to sit down at the negotiating table and agree to a peaceful negotiated solution,” he said.
On the problems Afghanistan faces, he said it was up to the Afghans to resolve the issues.
“NATO cannot solve the problems in Afghanistan. That has to be the Afghans that solve their own problems. It has to be an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process. What NATO can do is to help the Afghan government and the people of Afghanistan to address the challenges posed by Taliban, extremist violence and that is exactly what we are doing,” he added.
Stoltenberg’s remarks came just hours before a scheduled NATO Defense Minister’s meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Friday’s meeting will include a discussion on the alliance’s presence in Afghanistan beyond 2020 in both funding and military footprint.