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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed Monday in Afghanistan. His visit, which has not been announced in advance to the public, comes just two days after one member of the US Armed Forces was killed, and two others wounded, as a result of 39, an apparent attack by insider. At that time, American soldiers were training and badisting Afghan anti-terrorist efforts.
Pompeo met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Presidential Palace, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, diplomats at the US Embbady and US soldiers during his visit to the United States. a day in the country. This is Pompeo's first visit to the country as a secretary of state, although he visited the country last year when he was director of the CIA.
Pompeo was welcomed by US Ambbadador John Bbad and General John Nicholson, Commander of US and NATO forces in the country, at Bagram Air Base near the capital Afghanistan from Kabul.
Pompeo and Ghani praised the Trump administration's strategy in Afghanistan. Ghani called it a "game changer" and Pompeo said it "worked." But Pompeo admitted that there was a lot of work to do when I asked him what shows the success of the strategy. And he cited progress in increasing the size of security forces and strengthening reform in the Afghan government.
Pompeo did not directly answer CBS News' question asking him to characterize the dialogue between the United States and the Taliban, but he said that the United States "can not conduct talks with peace". Pompeo would not answer a question to him about the Russians who supplied arms to the Taliban.
For more than 16 years, Afghanistan has been home to the longest American war in history. The Trump administration has put in place a "condition-based" strategy for Afghanistan last year, which means that there is no set schedule for to attract at least 15,000 American soldiers currently on the ground .
The United States has two missions in the country: to support and train the Afghan army and shoot down terrorists. The number of American troops in the country will depend on the conditions on the ground, aiming at progress towards peace. In conjunction with this strategy, the Trump administration has increased the number of US troops from the levels set by the Obama administration, but the number is still a drastic decrease in the high number of 100,000 US troops on the field at the height of US involvement. 19659002] The moment of Pompeo's visit is significant . Later this week, he will travel to the NATO summit where the United States will lobby other countries to intensify their support for the security mission in Afghanistan.
"A new strategy in Afghanistan asking our allies and partners, who are 41, to extend the conclusions for the security forces and conduct a transaction based on the conditions," said L & # Ambbadador of the United States, Kay Bailey Hutchison. She explained that the reason for this request is the growing terrorist force in Afghanistan that has exported terrorism to the United States and European countries.
Pompeo is also there just a week before the Trump summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who supported Taliban efforts . US officials told CBS News earlier this year that Russia was holding US efforts to fight the Taliban hostage, given the bad blood between the two countries in other arenas. However, a US official in the field described Russia's actions as "more of an irritant."
Last month, the Taliban and the Afghan government signed a ceasefire. After repeated and harsh efforts to attract the Taliban to the negotiating table, the Afghan government sees the ceasefire as a "positive momentum" to stimulate dialogue, said a senior Afghan official. This is the first unilateral ceasefire since the outbreak of the war in 2001.
But overall, the year has been bloody for the country. In January a Taliban attack on a hotel in Kabul killed 20 people including four Americans
The Taliban broke the peace 38 times in late June, according to a senior US military official. ground. Given the violence throughout the year and the inability of the Taliban to hold out, some Afghan experts are skeptical that this agreement will actually be the springboard for peace
"While the ceasefire I think it has had a significant impact on the situation in Afghanistan," said Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The Taliban, who have never accepted the ceasefire offer by the Afghan government, immediately resumed their offensive after three days of ceasefire as the government continued its own ceasefire. fire for an extra week. this peace is on the horizon. "
There will be future questions about US troop levels in Afghanistan According to a senior Afghan official, there are no conversations about the end of the US presence at some point in the immediate future
The Taliban, who have never publicly expressed their support for the Afghan constitution, are not weakening in terms of its power in the country.It now controls more territory than it is. any time since 2002, when he was ousted from power, says Roggio.As a result, the United States and the Afghan government consider that attracting the Taliban to the table is a necessity to establish a way
"There are factories producing suicide bombers, we are under siege," Ghani said 60 minutes earlier this year, and said that if the United States backed them support, the governme Afghanistan would not be able to maintain their own army for more than six months.
U.S. Government officials continue to express their solidarity with the Afghan government and remain optimistic about the country's growing military power. Afghan security forces have been at the forefront since 2013, with support from the United States and support from the coalition. Last year, the United States recently delivered Blackhawk helicopters to the country to increase the strength of the Afghan air force.
The sophistication of the Afghan army, however, is debatable. An Afghan strike earlier this year, which claimed to target a Taliban planning session, killed or wounded more than 100 people at a religious meeting, according to a UN report released in May.
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