US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday that counterterrorism operations are critical for peace in Afghanistan and to ensure that the country is no longer a safe haven for terrorists.

“Counterterrorism operations remain critical to our efforts to achieving peace and ensuring terrorist organizations cannot find safe haven in Afghanistan,” said Esper in a joint press briefing with acting Interior Minister Andarabi, Minister of Defense Assadullah Khalid, and Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

On the sideline of the World Bank’s annual meetings in Washington this week, Afghan Minister of Finance Humayoun Qayoumi reportedly asked for loans worth billions of dollars from several global financial institutions while promoting Afghanistan’s “Self-Reliance Accelerator Package,” sources have told TOLOnews.

In response, CEO Abdullah Abdullah’s office said that asking for billions of dollars of loans at this time wasn’t a good decision.