German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech on the situation in Afghanistan at the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, August 25, 2021. /Reuters
The international community must maintain dialogue with the Taliban if it is to protect any improvements made in Afghanistan during the last two decades of NATO's deployment, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday.
"Our goal must be to preserve as much as possible what we have achieved in terms of changes in Afghanistan in the last 20 years. This is something the international community must talk about with the Taliban," Merkel said in a speech to parliament.