KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's Interior Minister Masoud Andarabi said Saturday that Afghan security forces can hold their ground even if U.S. troops withdraw, challenging a warning from the United States predicting a withdrawal would yield quick territorial gains to the Taliban.

Andarabi's comments in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press were the first government reaction to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's warning issued in a sharply worded letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last weekend.

In the letter pressing Ghani to step up efforts to make peace with the T...