US to work with NATO in Afghanistan, vows Biden

KABUL (Pajhwok): US President Joe Biden has affirmed his administration’s commitment to ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a staging area for terrorist attacks against America and its allies.

The United States would work together with NATO and other allies on the way forward in Afghanistan, Biden promised while addressing the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

America’s National Public Radio (NPR) quoted him as saying “My administration strongly supports the diplomatic process that is underway to put an end to this war that is closing out 20 years.”

The past few years had strained and tested America’s transatlantic relationship, the US leader acknowledged, alluding to US-Europe strategic alliance.

His government would see to it that the US and its allies did not face again threats from Afghanistan0based groups, Biden said, adding the Islamic State (Daesh) would not be allowed to regroup.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her address to the conference, signaled her country’s willingness to stay longer in Afghanistan if doing so was in the interest of Berlin’s partners.

A day earlier, NATO defence ministers concluded a two-day meeting in Brussels, deferring final decision on troop pullout from the war-devastated country.

The Biden administration has undertaken a review of last year’s peace pact between the US and the Taliban. Under the deal, foreign troops would exit Afghanistan by May 2021.

PAN Monitor/mud

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