NATO welcomes ceasefire with Taliban, calls for peace talks

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg enters the new NATO headquarters building in Brussels, Belgium, May 7, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed on Thursday Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban, and he called on the militants to lay down their arms and negotiate a peace deal.

"The announcement of a ceasefire shows the seriousness of President Ghani and the Afghan government ... I call on the Taliban to join the ceasefire," Stoltenberg told reporters.

"The Taliban will not win on the battlefield. The only way for them to achieve a solution is to sit down at the negotiating table," he said.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Hugh Lawson)