NATO urges faster peace talks
Afghan-Taliban discussions slow as U.S. weighs rollback
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday urged the Afghan government and the Taliban to step up the pace of peace talks amid doubts over whether the military alliance will pull thousands of troops out of the country by a May deadline.
NATO has just under 10,000 troops in the war-ravaged country, helping to train and advise the Afghan security forces. Most are not U.S. forces, but those troops could not continue the NATO operation if American transport, logistics and other support were withdrawn.
President Joe Biden is reviewing his predecessor’s 2020 deal with the Taliban, which includes a May 1 deadline for a final U.S. troop withdrawal. In Washington, calls are mounting for the United States to delay the final exit or renegotiate the deal to allow the presence of a smaller, intelligence-based American force.
“The problem is that we are in a situation where we have a date … approaching and so far we have seen that the peace talks are fragile,” Stoltenberg said after chairing a meeting of NATO defense ministers, including new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“The talks are fragile, and progress is slow. So it is now imperative to reenergize the peace process,” Stoltenberg said, referring to the stalled negotiations in Qatar between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Violence is also spiking, and culprits include the Taliban, the Islamic State group, warlords and criminal gangs.
None of the 30 NATO member governments has publicly argued that security conditions are right for a withdrawal, and many allies would probably support a longer stay if the U.S. requires it, diplomats say.
“At this stage, we have made no final decision on the future of our presence,” Stoltenberg said.
With the U.S. review ongoing, it’s unlikely that any firm decision on the future of NATO’s operation will be made before the organization’s foreign ministers meet in mid-March.
Asked whether NATO might, on the contrary, increase troops numbers, Stoltenberg said that “we will do what is necessary to make sure that our troops are safe. We have adjusted the troop numbers before, but I will not speculate because now the focus is on making sure that the peace talks are successful.”
LECTURERS KILLED
Also Thursday, two lecturers at Kabul University were killed when a bomb attached to the car they were traveling in went off, a police spokesman said.
The attack took place about noon near the university, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
The lecturers, Mubasher Muslimyar and Marouf Rasikh, taught Islamic studies, according to an Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Two years ago, Muslimyar had been briefly arrested by the Afghan intelligence agency over allegations of promoting Islamic State propaganda among university students. No charges were filed and he was later released.
An earlier explosion Thursday targeted police in a Kabul district but caused no casualties.
IRAQ UPS SECURITY
Also Thursday, the secretary-general said NATO is planning to scale up its mission training Iraq’s security forces with thousands of new personnel as the alliance seeks to help keep the Islamic State at bay.
“The size of our mission will increase from 500 personnel to around 4,000. And training activities will now include more Iraqi security institutions, and areas beyond Baghdad,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
NATO’s training mission was launched in 2018 to help the conflict-ravaged country develop new academies and military schools for its armed forces. It was initially confined to the capital, Baghdad, and neighboring Jordan.
The mission was suspended last year after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s top general at Baghdad airport, angering the Iraqi government.
Stoltenberg said he had spoken with Iraqi leaders and that “everything will be done in full consultation with the Iraqi authorities.” He also underlined that increases in troop numbers would be gradual.
“We will increase the geographical presence of the NATO training mission, beyond the greater Baghdad area, but again, step by step,” Stoltenberg said. The mission was led by Canada for two years, but Denmark is now taking control.
Unlike the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, NATO’s training effort does not involve combat operations.
A coalition contractor was killed and an unspecified number of other civilians were wounded late Monday when a barrage of rockets struck outside an airport near where U.S. forces are based in northern Iraq.