Despite little sign of progress as casualties rise and attempts at peace talks with Taliban insurgents have floundered, NATO’s reinforced mission will continue training Afghan forces, the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit in Kabul on Tuesday, Stars and Stripes reported.

“This is a difficult situation,” Stoltenberg said about the war, now in its 18^th year. “We see violence and instability, and we don’t underestimate the challenges.”

The Afghan government has recently lost control of more districts and the country’s security forces are suffering their highest casualties ever, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported last week.

Stoltenberg’s visit also comes amid an uptick in insider attacks against coalition troops. On Saturday, Maj. Brent Taylor was killed in that fashion at a training center in Kabul, the fourth such coalition death this year.

Stoltenberg said one reason Afghan casualty rates are up is that NATO has pulled back from combat operations to focus on training and advising.

A decision in July by NATO to expand its mission from 13,000 to 16,000 troops is aimed at better preparing Afghan forces with a larger training mission, Stoltenberg said, emphasizing that, “Our presence here is conditions based, it is not a timetable.”

Despite the setbacks, Stoltenberg insisted that, “The potential for peace is greater now than it has been in many years.”

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