NATO and Afghanistan:Mattis and Stoltenberg Discuss the New Strategy - a compelling advantage

On 27 September,NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis held talks with Afghan leaders in Kabul,including President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr.Abdullah Abdullah of the National Unity Government.*
At a press conference after the discussions,Mr.Mattis and Mr.Stoltenberg gave a frank briefing on the new approach.
Mr.Stoltenberg:NATO doesn't quit when the going gets tough.That is why I much welcome that many nations have pledged further contributions to our mission here in Afghanistan,including more troops from the US.And I welcome President Trump's new,conditions-based approach to Afghanistan and the region.NATO is committed to funding the Afghan security forces until at least 2020,and we will continue to provide almost a billion each year to the Afghan defence and security forces.
At our defence ministerial in June,we actually decided to increase our NATO troop levels in Afghanistan,and several Allies have already started to step up to their pledges to send more troops.So they are sending more troops because it is in their interest to have a more stable Afghanistan.*
Mr.Mattis:We will not abandon Afghanistan to a merciless enemy trying to kill its way to power.
This new strategy is conditions-based,and not time-based,because war is principally a matter of will,and we've made clear that we have the will to stand together.
Through our partnership,we will suffocate any hope that al-Qaida,or ISIS-Daesh,Haqqani or the Taliban have of winning by killing.
We are up against an enemy right now that intentionally fights among innocent people;that intentionally hides behind women and children;that intentionally tries to draw fire on the innocent,and we do everything humanly possible...to protect the innocent on the battlefield.We're not the perfect guys;but we are the good guys.
We are bringing in reinforcements,and those reinforcements are designed to add more advisors to your units in the field,and more trainers in your military schools.We are going to give them more advantage to the NATO access,and advantage to the NATO air forces overhead,to make sure that at no time does the Taliban own the high ground.We will always own the high ground.
I prefer to not go into the specific numbers right now.We are bringing more Americans in;there are more coalition forces coming in.I don't want to tell the enemy exactly what we're doing,but the whole point is to make certain that we have a compelling battlefield advantage over anything the Taliban tries to mass against your forces.We are not going to stand for that.
There's an increasing collusion.There's increasing teamwork among the various terrorist bands,and I will just tell you that this simply gives more impetus to those of us who are against terrorism to work together,Secretary Mattis told the reporters gathered in Kabul.*
Among others attending the talks were General John Nicholson,US Army,NATO Resolute Support Mission and Operation Freedom's Sentinel commander;Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison,US Ambassador to NATO;and Afghan national security officials.