Reuters: Foreign troops will stay in Afghanistan longer than expected

Reuters quoted four senior NATO officials as saying on Sunday that international forces intended to stay in the Taliban-US peace deal in Afghanistan after the May deadline.

“None of the NATO allies wants to stay in Afghanistan longer than the allotted time, but we have made it clear that our presence will be conditional,” the report said.

Coalition countries are assessing the overall situation and consulting on the way forward.

Former US President Donald Trump signed a peace agreement with the Taliban early last year and called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan by May 1 if the Taliban pledged to fully implement certain security guarantees, Reuters reported.

NATO sources, meanwhile, said plans for what would happen after April were being considered and would likely be one of the main topics at a NATO summit in February.