Monday, July 09, 2018

Pompeo makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise stop Monday in Afghanistan, where he met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and offered U.S. support in facilitating peace talks with the Taliban, The Washington Post reported.

Pompeo told reporters that the Trump administration’s strategy in Afghanistan “is working” but that a peace process in the region long wracked by violence must be anchored by Afghans themselves.

“The American role will be important in this,” the secretary of state said. “We can’t run the peace talks; we can’t settle this from the outside.”

Pompeo's visit to Afghanistan comes after the collapse of a brief cease-fire that had sparked hope for a more permanent peace process. That temporary cease-fire was pushed by the Afghan government, as were efforts to continue it that were rejected by militants.

Increased U.S. military activity in the country, Pompeo said, has “sent a clear message to the Taliban” that “they cannot wait us out.”

“The region and the world are all tired of what are taking place here in the same way that the Afghan people are no longer interested in seeing war,” he said.

Pompeo spent just hours in Kabul, and his visit was kept secret. In addition to meetings with Afghan officials, the secretary of state also met with U.S. troops at Bagram Airfield. - More, Politico

Pompeo makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan - POLITICO


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