US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, speaking on Thursday at a pre-NATO conference event in Brussels, stated:

"The performance of the ANDSF (Afghan National Security Forces) has been wonderful, I had a chance to view an exercise by some of the commandos and talk with some of their soldiers. They are committed to the defense of their country. They showed great strength and pride in having a relatively violent-free election, if you will. And so I think we need to continue along that path.”

Esper suggested that troop numbers aren’t a gauge of commitment, saying that the US is “committed to the mission, irrespective of how we optimize our force over time,” alluding to a recent announcement by General Scott Miller, US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, that 2,000  troops had gradually been sent back to the US over the past year, making the current number of troops in Afghanistan roughly 12,000.

At Wednesday’s pre-ministerial press conference--and then again on Thursday --Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated NATO’s commitment to aiding Afghanistan, and stated that the primary mission of NATO in Afghanistan is counterterrorism, specifically to prevent Daesh from establishing a caliphate as it did in the Middle East.

During Wednesday’s pre-conference remarks, the Secretary General said that NATO welcomed the resumption of the peace talks, provided that the Taliban made “real compromises,” and on Thursday Stoltenberg said that the best way to bring the Taliban to the negotiation table for peace would be to strengthen the Afghan military.

Also, US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said on Wednesday:

“We are fully funded and fully committed to Afghanistan in the next year --certainly for troops--and up through 2024 we have the funding for the Afghan troops, and we can’t say enough about how great the Afghan army is functioning in Afghanistan.”

Stoltenberg said the last meeting on Friday will focus on the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.