NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that the alliance welcomes the resumption of peace talks between the US and Taliban, on the condition that the Taliban shows a “willingness to make real compromises at the negotiating table.”

At the moment, however, “the Taliban are escalating violence, not ending it,” Stoltenberg said, adding: “This demonstrates a lack of commitment to lasting peace, and it proves the need for firm and credible guarantees for any future peace deal.”

He said that NATO remains committed to Afghanistan in order to ensure that the country never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists, and so it may establish conditions for a “lasting peace.”

Stoltenberg praised Afghans for voting:

“I commend the Afghan forces, and the Afghan men and women for what they have achieved, and I commend the Afghan people who exercised their democratic right to vote in the recent presidential elections,” he said.