KABUL - Efforts to reduce violence will have an impact on lives of all Afghans, NATO’s senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, Nicholas Kay, said on Sunday.
Kay said this when asked for a comment on a statement from Afghan presidential spokesman, which stressed on ceasefire as precondition to peace talks and rejected violence reduction.
“Efforts to reduce violence will have an impact on lives of all Afghans, but specifics of an agreement will be for the parties to agree,” Kay said on Twitter.
“We must be patient as these trust-building measures are worked out,” Kay said. “We look forward to firm and credible guarantees from the Taliban for peace.”
The envoy said that NATO supports US-Taliban talks, but noted that real peace will come from an intra-Afghan agreement that preserves the rights and freedoms Afghans have enjoyed for the last 18 years.
He said that NATO presence in Afghanistan is based on needs of the Afghan forces and it will be determined by allies and conditions on the ground.
“Violence has to reduce as a first step to make way for peace,” Kay said. (1TV NEWS)