Political solution needed in Afghanistan: NATO

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said he believed that a "political negotiated solution" was needed in Afghanistan, while reaffirming the bloc's support for Afghan security forces with training, assist and advising.

"We are committed to continue to support Afghanistan because we strongly believe that the best way NATO can support peace efforts is to train, assist and advise the Afghan security forces so that Taliban understand that they will never win on the battlefield," TOLO News quoted Stoltenberg as saying at a presser in London on Wednesday.

NATO "welcomed efforts to restart the Afghan peace talks, he said, adding that the security bloc "supported the talks because we believe that we need a political negotiated solution in Afghanistan".

This comes as the US State Department on Wednesday said that Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad "will rejoin the talks with the Taliban in Doha to discuss steps that could lead to intra-Afghan negotiations and a peaceful settlement to the ongoing conflict in the country".

Khalilzad met with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday and the two sides exchanged views related to the peace process, including "the prospect for a ceasefire as a result of a peace agreement and the issue of Taliban's sanctuaries outside Afghanistan".

He also met CEO Abdullah Abdullah and other politicians and they discussed the peace process and reduction of violence by the Taliban, before the start of talks.IANS