NATO insisted Thursday that its members would consult and decide together on when to leave Afghanistan, after US President Donald Trump vowed to bring American troops home by Christmas.

Trump, trailing in polls ahead of the November 3 presidential election, made his surprise announcement on Twitter on Wednesday, dramatically speeding up the timeline for ending America's longest war.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg repeated the alliance's longstanding position that it will end its mission in Afghanistan only when conditions on the ground permit.

"We decided to go into Afghanistan together, we will make decisions on future adjustments together, and when the time is right, we will leave together," Stoltenberg said at a news conference after talks with North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

NATO went into Afghanistan following the 2001 US-led invasion to topple the Taliban in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

It ended its combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014 and has vastly reduced its presence on the ground, but maintains a 12,000-strong force training and advising local forces.

Stoltenberg said NATO would only leave Afghanistan when it could do so without the risk of the country once again becoming a haven for militants.

"We will make decisions based on the conditions on the ground, because we think it is extremely important to continue to be committed to the future of Afghanistan, because it is in our interest to preserve the long term security of Afghanistan," he said.

It is not clear whether NATO had any advance warning of Trump's announcement, though Stoltenberg's statement that allies would now "consult on the future of the mission" appeared to indicate that it did not.

After intense US cajoling, the Afghan government and the Taliban last month opened peace talks in Doha, but negotiations have got off to a slow start.

Trump's timeline for withdrawing forces appeared to contradict his own national security advisor Robert O'Brien, who reportedly told an event that the US would cut troops to 2,500 by early 2021.

Trump says wants US troops out of Afghanistan by Christmas
Washington (AFP) Oct 8, 2020 - President Donald Trump has said he wants all US troops to leave Afghanistan by Christmas, speeding up the timeline for ending America's longest war.

"We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!" Trump wrote on Twitter late Wednesday.

The Taliban welcomed the announcement as a "positive step" in implementing their February 29 agreement with the US that would see all foreign forces leave Afghanistan by May 2021.

In return, the Taliban promised not to allow Afghanistan to be used by trans-national extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda -- the original reason for the 2001 US invasion.

In a statement, the Taliban said they are "committed to the agreement, and want positive relations in the future with all countries, including the United States."

After intense US cajoling, the Afghan government and the Taliban last month opened peace talks in Doha, although negotiations have got off to a slow start.

Trump's promise comes less than a month before US elections in which the president, trailing in polls, has sought to show he is making good on his promise to close out America's "endless wars."

After 19 years of US military operations his stance enjoys broad support at home including from his Democratic rival Joe Biden, who during his time as vice president had pushed to curtail US involvement in Afghanistan.

Asked last month whether he backed Trump's plans to withdraw troops from both Afghanistan and Iraq, Biden said: "Yes, I do. As long as he has a plan to figure out how he's going to deal with ISIS," the ultra-violent movement that has been active in both countries.

- Stalemate in talks -

The United States first intervened in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks and dislodged the Taliban regime, which had welcomed Al-Qaeda.

But in the years since the resurgent militants have launched a fresh battle to topple the US-backed government in Kabul, with civilians bearing the brunt of spiraling violence since NATO combat troops withdrew in 2014.

The former Taliban regime had imposed an ultra-conservative brand of Islam on Afghanistan that banned music and education for girls.

The Doha talks have quickly deadlocked over the Taliban's insistence that negotiations adhere to a strict Sunni school of jurisprudence, a step the government says would discriminate against Shiites and other minorities.

Speaking earlier Wednesday, the veteran US diplomat who negotiated with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, nonetheless voiced guarded hope for the talks.

"The overwhelming majority of the Afghans would like to see an end to the conflict," Khalilzad, speaking by video from Doha, told a forum of the University of Chicago's Pearson Institute.

"I believe that the Taliban are quite serious about the negotiations. Many thought that they wouldn't sit across the table from the Afghan government -- that all they wanted was an agreement for the withdrawal of US forces. But they are now sitting across the table."

Trump has already reduced US forces in Afghanistan to around 8,600 and the Taliban has stood by promises not to attack Western troops -- even as the militants continue their bloody campaign against government forces.

"The level of violence is too high as far as we're concerned," Khalilzad said, although he asserted that Afghan civilian and military casualties had declined in the first half of 2020.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, visiting Doha on Tuesday, called on the Taliban to "have courage" and declare a national ceasefire.

The Trump administration had pressed Ghani's government to release some 5,000 Taliban prisoners, a condition of the militants to start talks.

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Trump says wants US troops out of Afghanistan by Christmas
Washington (AFP) Oct 8, 2020
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants all US troops to leave Afghanistan by Christmas, speeding up the timeline for ending America's longest war. "We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!" Trump wrote on Twitter. In a February 29 agreement reached in Qatar with the Taliban, the United States promised to pull out all its troops by mid-2021 in return for insurgents' promises not to allow Afghanistan to be used by extrem ... read more