The Acting Minister of Defense Asadullah Khalid and Gen. Scott Miller, the Commander of the U.S. forces and the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission expressed optimisms about the ‘Reduction in Violence’ agreement with the Taliban group.
Accompanying Khalid during a visit to Kandahar, Gen. Miller said “We’re working our way through the reduction of violence. We’re seeing what we would call a downward trend in violence, which is great for the Afghan people. It’s great for the country of Afghanistan.”
Gen. Miller admitted that “There’s still some incidents and we’re working through those incidents.”
However, he said “We remain committed in our support to the Afghan security forces. The minister and I are talking about it every single day to make sure we’re seeing what’s happening on the ground together.”
Meanwhile, Khalid said “This is a success for us. The sacrifices of our hard working Afghan forces and patience of our great nation caused this reduction in violence.”
“We hope, God willing [Inshallah], this results in a ceasefire and enduring peace,” he said, adding that “In several locations, people celebrated the reduction in violence.”
According to Khalid the Taliban groups came in to the cities in some provinces and took photos with our soldiers, calling it a ‘big success’.
The U.S. and Taliban group reached to an agreement to reduce violence nearly a week after concluding the final phase of talks in Qatari capital of Doha.
The two sides reached to an agreement amid ongoing efforts to find a negotiated political settlement to end the nearly two-decade war in Afghanistan.
