Afghanistan

The German government has agreed to extend its military mandate in Afghanistan into 2022. The extension now requires the approval of the Bundestag lower house of parliament. 

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan witnessed a sharp rise since peace negotiations started in September last year, even though overall deaths and injuries dropped in 2020, compared to the previous year, according to a UN human rights report launched Tuesday. 

NATO defence ministers at a meeting on Thursday made no decision on whether or when to pull out of Afghanistan, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, adding that the allies faced a dilemma as violence increases again.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday the alliance will not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan “before the time is right,” ahead of a discussion by defense ministers on the deployment.

Taliban insurgents have killed at least 21 government troops in new attacks in Afghanistan as U.S.-brokered peace talks between the two warring sides remain stalled. The fighting comes as the United States is reviewing a February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, which required remaining American and allied forces to leave Afghanistan by May of this year.

The United States should extend the May 1 deadline for pulling all its troops from Afghanistan, and make force cuts contingent on progress in peace talks as well as by the Taliban in reducing violence and containing al Qaeda, a bipartisan report to Congress said on Wednesday.

The statement comes a day after Pentagon said Taliban has failed to meet its side of the peace agreement signed last year.

Afghanistan’s High Peace Council says an immediate cease-fire is a top priority for the Afghan government negotiators in the second round of the intra-Afghan talks in Doha.

Peace talks in Afghanistan have only inched forward even as the pace of conflict has picked up. As the Afghan government and Taliban await clearer policy signals from the incoming U.S. administration, their primary goal should be to keep the vital negotiations going.

The U.S. military has not halted a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Department of Defense told Reuters on Monday, despite a new law prohibiting further reductions without the Pentagon sending Congress an assessment of the risks.