NATO countries want to keep forces in Afghanistan, says President Ashraf Ghani

NATO alliance members are “very much interested” in keeping troops in Afghanistan but they cannot remain without critical types of US support, President Ashraf Ghani said on Friday.

The Afghan leader spoke as the new administration of US President Joe Biden conducts a review of the US-backed peace process and a February 2020 deal with the Taliban that set a May deadline for a full withdrawal of American forces.

Addressing an Aspen Institute-sponsored online program, Ghani said he had spoken to the leaders of Canada, Norway, Germany and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and that NATO is “very much interested in continuing” the alliance mission in Afghanistan.

“But…NATO, without US enablers, cannot continue its mission,” he said, using a military term for intelligence, air power and other kinds of support the United States provides.

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Ghani also said that the United States – now with only 2,500 troops in Afghanistan – and NATO “must take a very strong stand on the conditions-based approach” to withdrawing their troops.

The 2020 US-Taliban deal stipulates that the US withdrawal from America’s longest war be based on conditions on the ground and the insurgents’ fulfillment of commitments, including ending cooperation with al Qaeda.

Former president Donald Trump authorised the reduction of US forces to their lowest level since the US-led invasion in 2001, against the advice of some of his military commanders as violence surged and US officials said the Taliban were still cooperating with al Qaeda.

The Taliban deny that there are still al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan.

Senior Biden administration officials have said that they are reviewing the US-Taliban accord to gain a full understanding of the commitments made by the Trump administration and the insurgents.

Ghani said the administration plans to send a team to Kabul for consultations on stalled talks in Doha between the Taliban and a delegation that includes members of his government.

“The United States is going to send a team to Kabul. We’ll also be talking by videoconference on how to energize the peace process,” Ghani said.