Under the terms of that agreement with the US, the Taliban agreed to negotiate a peaceful resolution of this benighted country’s long-running civil war in return for Washington agreeing to withdraw all its remaining forces. In addition, they agreed to cut their ties with Islamist terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin on Thursday after the second and final day of NATO Defense Ministerial in a released statement by the Pentagon thanked allies for their continued commitment to the Resolute Support Mission and reiterated that the US remains committed to a diplomatic effort to end the war.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed to fellow Defence Ministers representing NATO’s 30 members that the UK will scale up its own commitment in line with the Alliance’s missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Speaking in the virtual NATO defence ministerial conference said that UK government remains resolute to its support the Afghan government.

Russian special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, is visiting Islamabad for a one-day visit, on Friday, Pakistan foreign ministry said in a statement. During the visit, Kabulov will call on the Foreign Minister and meet with Special Representative for Afghanistan and other dignitaries for an exchange of views on the latest developments in the Afghan peace process, read the statement.

Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar will visit Moscow, the capital of Russia to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.