NATO calls on Taliban to allow departure of all who want to leave

Shafaq News/ NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on the Taliban on Tuesday to facilitate the departure of all those who want to leave Afghanistan, and said the Western defence alliance has agreed to send additional evacuation planes to Kabul.

Stoltenberg is blaming a failure of Afghan leadership for the swift collapse of the country’s armed forces but says the alliance must also uncover flaws in its military effort.

He says “the Afghan political leadership failed to stand up” and that “this failure of Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing today.”

His remarks came after he chaired a meeting Tuesday of NATO envoys to discuss the security implications of the Taliban’s sweeping victory in Afghanistan in recent weeks.

NATO has been leading international security efforts in Afghanistan since 2003 but wound up combat operations in 2014 to focus on training the national security forces.

Referring to the way that the Afghan armed forces withered in the face of the Taliban offensive, Stoltenberg said that “was a surprise, the speed of the collapse and how quickly that happened.”

He says “there are lessons that need to be learned” at NATO.

Meanwhile, Taliban said that the United States should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.

A Taliban spokesperson added that "the Movement is not interested in attacking US forces," stressing that Taliban will not allow al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization to operate in Afghanistan."