There is no guarantee that the Afghanistan peace process will succeed, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said.
“It’s a fragile peace process. There is no guarantee of success,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with German news agency DPA.
Stoltenberg said that the ongoing talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are the only path to peace and NATO supports those efforts.
Under a US-Taliban agreement signed in February, foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by April next year, conditions permitting.
Stoltenberg said that both leaving and staying in Afghanistan carry risk.
“Whatever we decide, there is a risk. If we decide to leave, the risk is that we will lose the gains we have made in fighting international terrorism to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven. If we stay, of course there is the risk that we will see increased fighting, violence, and that we will remain engaged in a long-term military conflict in Afghanistan,” Stoltenberg said.
“We will have another meeting in February with the new Biden administration and then make our decisions,” Stoltenberg said.
