KABUL – US Military wants longer presence of forces in Afghanistan,American General has urged.

The United States will need to keep counterterrorism forces in Afghanistanuntil there is no insurgency left in the country, the top US general saidon Wednesday, suggesting a far longer military presence even after morethan 17 years of war, TOLO News has reported.

“I think we will need to maintain a counterterrorism presence as long as aninsurgency continues in Afghanistan,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffGeneral Joseph Dunford said during a congressional hearing.

This comes as the US in the past nine months started peace talks with theTaliban about withdrawal of US forces.

In the last seven days, the US Special Representative for AfghanistanReconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and some key members of the Taliban areholding talks on Afghan peace in Doha, however, the two sides so far havenot reached a final deal on issues under debate which are troop withdrawal,counterterrorism assurances, a ceasefire and intra-Afghan dialogue.

The Taliban has said the group will talk about a ceasefire once anagreement is reached with the US on a timeframe for the withdrawal offoreign forces from Afghanistan and on counterterrorism assurances. But theUS insists that nothing will be agreed until an agreement on the four keyissues.