NATO Mission to Continue Till Taliban Driven to Political Settlement: Mattis

Washington, May 1 (PTI) The NATO mission to Afghanistan would continue till the time the Taliban are driven to a political settlement, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said today.

In a brief interaction with reporters, Mattis said the Pentagon never promised things would be getting better in Afghanistan anytime soon.

"I don't know that's been the message from this building, I would not subscribe to that," he said in response to a question.

"We said last August NATO is going to hold the line, we knew there would be tough fighting going forward. The murder of journalists and other innocent people is a great testimony to what it is we stand for and more importantly what we stand against," he said.

His comments come a day after a double suicide blast in Kabul killed 25 people, including an AFP photographer and at least eight other journalists.

The Afghan military is being made more capable, Mattis said, adding that more of the forces are special forces, advised and assisted, accompanied by NATO mentors and these are the most effective forces.

"We'll stand by the Afghan people, we'll stand by the Afghan government and the NATO mission will continue as we drive them to a political settlement," Mattis said.

"So the expansion there is why the enemy has been unable to take any district centers provincial centers or make any advances there,” Mattis said in response to a question.

"We anticipated and are doing our best and have been successful at blocking many of these attacks on innocent people but unfortunately once in a while they get through because any terrorist organisation that realizes it can't win by ballots and turns to bombs -- this is simply what they do, they murder innocent people," he said.

Mattis' remarks are in stark contrast to the upbeat assessment given by US commanders just a few months ago.

In November, Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, called President Trump's new Afghan strategy a "game changer" that he said put the Afghan government forces “on a path to a win.

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