Germany will continue to support the Afghan peace process after the last NATO troops leave the country this summer, ending their nearly 20-year-long presence, a government spokesman said on Monday
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th July, 2021) Germany will continue to support the Afghan peace process after the last NATO troops leave the country this summer, ending their nearly 20-year-long presence, a government spokesman said on Monday.
"We have repeatedly said that we are ready to support the Afghan peace process. We will continue doing this after the troop withdrawal. We will seek a long-term peaceful solution together with our partners," Steffen Seibert told a news briefing.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in May that it would take a few months to withdraw NATO's non-US forces of over 7,000 to match the US troop withdrawal. The last of German troops left Afghanistan last week. The US withdrawal is expected to wrap up by the end of August.
The departure of foreign soldiers from the Central Asian country has been met with a surge in violence, with dozens of districts in Afghanistan's rural north falling to the Taliban in the past weeks.
Seibert said that Berlin was issuing visas to Afghans who cooperated with its military. Foreign Office spokesperson Rainer Breul told reporters that Afghans who feared for their life after providing assistance to NATO should email the ministry for help.
