Ahead of the NATO summit, Stoltenberg links NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan to conditions, and Washington is preparing to deliver a message to members.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that peace talks in Afghanistan are still unstable, and that the Taliban must reduce violence.

He added - during a press conference in Brussels, on Monday - that the presence of NATO (NATO) in Afghanistan is subject to conditions, and that the alliance does not want to stay more than necessary, and its withdrawal will depend on conditions on the ground.

Stoltenberg welcomed the Doha Peace Agreement in Afghanistan and said it opened an opportunity for intra-Afghan dialogue.

But he stressed that the appropriate time for withdrawal must be chosen, so that there is a balance between stabilizing the peace and starting to reduce the number of NATO forces.

The Secretary-General indicated that the Taliban militants in Afghanistan must do more to fulfill the terms of the 2020 peace agreement with the United States, allowing any possible withdrawal of foreign forces by next May.

NATO's defense ministers will discuss later this week whether the Taliban is making progress on the peace deal.

Calls for caution

Attacks in Afghanistan - including a bomb attack that killed the deputy governor of the capital, Kabul last December - prompted lawmakers in the US Congress and members of international rights groups to call for a delay in the withdrawal agreed upon during the administration of former US President Donald Trump.

NATO has 9,600 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, including 2,500 American soldiers, who are working to train and provide support for Afghan forces.

Many fear a rapid collapse of the progress made during the two decades of foreign intervention in Afghanistan, threatening gains in a number of areas, from women's rights to democracy.

And US lawmakers have warned that withdrawing all forces could lead to a civil war.

The meeting of NATO defense ministers this week, which will be videotaped on Wednesday and Thursday, was initially set to decide whether to proceed with the withdrawal of troops.

The administration of the new US President, Joe Biden, is receiving calls to seek a 6-month delay in the withdrawal.

Four senior NATO officials said on January 31 that international forces would remain in Afghanistan after the May withdrawal deadline, despite calls from the Taliban for a complete withdrawal.

Reassure partners

It is expected that the new US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will reaffirm the US commitment to NATO, and he will promise the allies not to take any important decision without consulting with them, with the aim of turning the page of the years of former President Donald Trump.

A spokesman for the US Defense Department (Pentagon), John Kirby, confirmed - Friday - that Austin will convey a "positive message about the importance of NATO" during the meeting of defense ministers of NATO member states on Wednesday and Thursday.

He added that Austin "wants to revive our commitment to the alliance," noting that his message "will be that we are better when we move together, and working as a team makes us stronger, and collective security is a common security and is also in our common interest."

Kirby said that the thorny file represented by the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, scheduled for early May, will be at the top of the talks program, but no decision is expected to be announced.

Last January, Washington reduced the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan, while NATO allies kept their forces there (Al-Jazeera)

The spokesman reminded that "the Supreme Leader (President Joe Biden) is the one who takes this type of decision," indicating that this ministerial meeting will help Austin "form his ideas and the type of recommendations he should give to the supreme leader."

And he continued, "As he told his counterparts - especially in the NATO - no decision will be taken without proper consultation and discussion with them."

Under the historic agreement signed in February 2020 between Washington and the Taliban, the United States pledged to withdraw all its forces from Afghanistan by May 2021, in exchange for the Taliban providing security guarantees.

On January 15, Washington reduced the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan to 2,500, the lowest in the country since 2001, at a time when NATO allies kept their forces there.

However, Taliban attacks multiplied and an advisory group set up by the US Congress called to postpone the date of a complete military withdrawal to early May, after it considered that the Taliban were not honoring their pledges under the agreement.