Former NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan, Sir Nicholas Kay, has warned that withdrawing international troops without a full Taliban commitment to peace would be “rash”.

In an interview with the Forces News, Kay said, “It would be very rash for us to have a comprehensive military withdrawal from Afghanistan before there is a comprehensive political peace agreement.”
The US and Taliban signed an agreement for bringing peace in Afghanistan on February 29, in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
According to the deal, the Afghan government would release up to five thousand Taliban and the US forces would leave Afghanistan within 14 months after the deal.
In exchange, the Taliban militant group would release 1,000 prisoners of the Afghan government and it promised to stop al-Qaeda operating in the areas of its control.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Kay told the Forces News that the only commitment on the NATO side is “for this first stage of withdrawal down to 12,000 and then there would be a stocktake.”
Kay, however, said that the deal is conditions-based, adding, “If the Taliban do not live up to their commitments, then there will not be a deal.”
“Those commitments have to be demonstrated,” he noted.
One of the commitments the Taliban are expected to fulfill is the reduction of violence, but this is not the reality at the moment.
“Yes, the Taliban stopped attacking coalition forces. Yes, they stopped attacking high-profile targets in cities […] but they were killing Afghan security forces, Afghan civilians in rural areas [and] districts across the country at a very high rate.”
The next step of the process, the former ambassador explained, should be the beginning of actual negotiations between the Taliban, the Afghan government, and the wider Afghan society.
Earlier, sources said that the first round of talks between the Afghans is scheduled to take place on June 15, but sources close to the Taliban have said that talks would not begin unless all 5,000 Taliban prisoners are released.