TEHRAN (Iran News) – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg was in Afghanistan on Saturday for meetings with officials as the United States and the Taliban were to sign a long-sought deal, the alliance said.
Amid deal process, Stoltenberg was to participate in a Kabul media conference later Saturday with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the NATO statement said, AFP reported.
He was also to meet the head of the US and NATO forces in the country, General Scott Miller, as well as other commanders of the alliance’s training mission there.
The details of the peace deal, to be signed in Doha on Saturday, have not been disclosed, but it is expected to set the terms of the US to start withdrawing the more than 12,000 troops it has in Afghanistan in return for commitments from the Taliban.
It carries with it hopes of a fall in violence in Afghanistan after decades of conflict and the opening of peace talks with the Afghan government, which was excluded from the direct US-Taliban negotiations.
Afghan, international and Taliban forces will observe a seven-day period of reduced violence in Afghanistan beginning at midnight (1930 GMT), an Afghan official and Taliban leaders said on Friday.
- source : Tasnim, Irannews
