Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday that withdrawal of part of American forces from Afghanistan as part of a peace deal between the US and the Taliban will not impact the lives of Afghans.

In an interview with TOLO News, Ghani said that he requested a reduction in the number of American troops in Afghanistan in a letter to US President Donald Trump seven months ago but reiterated that a decrease in number forces will be conditions-based.

“The number of troops has not been mentioned in the bilateral agreement (between Afghanistan and the US) and in multilateral agreement with NATO… Reduction or increase in the number of troops is conditions-based,” he said.

In response to a question that whether 5,000 US troops will leave the country in 135 days from five bases in Afghanistan, Ghani said discussions were ongoing in this regard.

He said the five bases were small and that they will be handed to the Afghan forces.

“Five thousand personnel will not bring basic changes in our lives because the remaining number will support our Air Force, our Commando Force, and other Defence and Security Forces and will help the Resolute Support to continue (its mission in Afghanistan),” Ghani said.

Early today, the US and Taliban agreed to resume peace talks in Doha, Qatar, aimed at chalking out a deal on the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in exchange for a Taliban commitment on security and negotiations with the government in Kabul.

US Special Representative on Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad had said that Washington was ready to seal a peace deal with the Taliban if the group was ready for it.

Last month, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani had asked the US government to clarify about President Donald Trump’s remark where he claimed that “he could easily win the war in 10 days” but that he didn’t “want to kill millions of people”.

Meanwhile, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday assured that peace would finally prevail in the war-torn country and that the nation should not have any concern about the ongoing talks between the US and the Taliban in Doha.