KABUL, Nov 12: The US military said on Wednesday it would cease operations in Afghanistan immediately if the Taliban and other militants stopped their attacks.

“We don’t have any timetable, but if the militants decide to give up tomorrow, we will stop tomorrow and if they continue we will continue,” US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters in Kabul.

“As long as they are committed to committing the acts of violence we will stay here to kill them, capture them and deny sanctuary to them: that’s our mission,” the colonel said.

Davis said Taliban militants, their Al Qaeda allies and supporters of former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had been weakened but still threatened peace and security two years after the fall of the hardline regime.

“We are engaged in a war. There is only one major player and that’s the coalition. We are not afraid of the anti-coalition forces, but they’re forces to be dealt with,” he said.

US troops last week launched a fresh offensive against suspected militants in northeast Nuristan province.—AFP