Kabul | Welcomes NATO’s recent statement reaffirming its commitment to extend financial support for the Afghan security forces until 2024, acting Afghan Finance Minister Homayoun Qayumi said on Sunday.
At the Afghan National Army Trust Fund Board meeting on Tuesday, NATO countries reiterated their intention to extend their funding support for the Afghan security forces until 2024. The decision was initially made at the NATO Brussels summit in July 2018.
“The NATO members have agreed to extend support for Afghan forces again until 2024. The members of NATO are satisfied with progress made in Afghanistan and are discussing possible extension even after 2024,” Qayumi told a press conference in Kabul, expressing hope that the NATO decision would help strengthen the morale of Afghan forces.
According to sources, Afghan forces need more than $5 billion to stand on. The expenses are being largely paid by NATO and the United States.
Despite billions of aid to Afghanistan over the last two decades, the Afghan government has not been able to fully rely on it, looking for own resources to cover the expenses.
“For Afghanistan’s self-reliance, we have some packages being implemented,” Qayumi added, without providing further details.
Analysts, meanwhile, suggest that the extension of the NATO funding support may also help the Afghan economy.
“NATO’s civilian and military aids will strengthen the government and will help implement development projects,” Afghan economist Rahmat Nabi Sherzad said.
The renewed NATO commitment, however, comes as concerns about possible failure of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban mount.
A 67-year-old Kabul resident, Ahmad Khan Rahin, for instance, believes that that there is less hope for peace now then at the time the United States and Taliban started their peace talks.
“When the US and Taliban first held talks, we were hopeful for peaceful settlement because it was unique, but now after several rounds of talks, no breakthrough has been made. The bloodshed of Afghans will even get worse than now,” Khan told Sputnik.
After the Taliban and the United States started peace talks, there were suggestions that the NATO support for Afghan forces might not be extended. Now, with the renewed NATO commitment to extend it, concerns have been on the rise that a breakthrough in these talks is still nowhere around the corner.
Another round of US-Taliban peace talks is expected to be held in Qatar in late June. The sides have been negotiating an agreement for US troops withdrawal and the Taliban’s guarantees that Afghan soil will not be used to harbor members of the al-Qaeda terror group (banned in Russia).
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