Political ranks and worsening security salute Mattis in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) – US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrived in Kabul on Friday to meet the new commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan and discuss progress with the Afghan government.

The United States began a new year of pressure to increase pressure on the Taliban by increasing air strikes and sending thousands of other troops to train and advise Afghan forces. The 17-year war is the longest running conflict in the United States.

Mattis is accompanied by the President of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford.

US Army General Scott Miller took command of NATO forces in Afghanistan Sunday, arriving as Washington faces growing questions about its strategy to force the Taliban to wage negotiations to end the conflict .

Addressing reporters this week, Mattis said he hoped the Taliban peace talks would begin.

"Currently, we have more indications that reconciliation is no longer just a shimmer, it's no longer a mirage," Mattis said.

"He now has a framework, there are open lines of communication," added Mattis.

During the summer, a senior US State Department official met with Taliban officials in Qatar to try to lay the groundwork for broader peace negotiations.

The US government said the Taliban would accept a temporary truce in June as a sign of why the talks should be viewed with hope.

"The most important job is to start the political process and reconciliation," Dunford told reporters traveling with him.

"What we are trying to do in the military dimension, is to convince the Taliban that they can not win on the battlefield and that they must engage in a process of peace."

In private, US officials and experts are more cautious.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unclear what influence the Taliban leaders in Doha, Qatar, had on the leadership of the group.

"I think the United States and Afghanistan may have exaggerated the good news in Afghanistan," said Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.

Two insurgent commanders told Reuters the Taliban rejected a second ceasefire proposed by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani this month.

CREDIBLE FORCE?

Ultimately, any possibility of peace negotiations with the Taliban could be halted because of internal political problems within the Afghan government.

A public clash that saw two senior security officials live on television clearly highlighted the divisions that undermine the Western-backed government, even as insurgents have stepped up the pressure on the battlefield.

The dispute arose after a few deadly weeks in which the Taliban killed hundreds of soldiers and police and briefly seized the strategic city of Ghazni.

In the same week, National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar, one of the most powerful figures in the government, resigned despite speculation that he was preparing to challenge Ghani in the presidential elections of next year.

The parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in October before the presidential election in April.

"I would be surprised if something important happened on the brink of reconciliation before next year's presidential election, because the Taliban simply do not see the government as a credible force," Kugelman said.

The US official, on condition of anonymity, has expressed concern over the lack of measures taken by the Afghan government to create programs for Taliban fighters seeking to leave the militant group.

"If the Afghan government can be more responsive to disaffected combatants, it will go a long way towards creating legitimacy for the peace process," said the official.

The official said the US government had not used his political influence on this issue enough, and that could be something Mattis talks about with Ghani.

The militant group of the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber in a Kabul wrestling club, killed at least 20 people on Wednesday.

At times, the United States has been on the same side as the Taliban in their opposition to the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

"Strange as it may seem, we both see – both the Taliban and the NATO Alliance supporting the Afghan government – considering ISIS in the same light," said Mattis.