Jens Stoltenberg
Michael Hughes: NATO defense chiefs at their upcoming ministerial are expected to approve a plan to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond the May Doha agreement deadline due to the Taliban’s alleged failure to divorce al-Qaeda and the need to support intra-Afghan talks. However, the irony is the decision will ensure a nearly dead peace process will not be resuscitated any time soon.
The NATO resolute support mission currently has a total of 9,592 troops from 36 nations stationed in Afghanistan which includes 2,500 American soldiers. NATO Secretary-General Jan Stoltenberg ahead of the February 17-18 summit said the alliance will not withdraw troops “before the time is right.”