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Pompeo, in Kabul on Surprise Visit, Pledges Support for Afghan-Led Peace

by Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD --

   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo briefly visited Kabul on Monday where he
   pledged U.S. support for President Ashraf Ghani's efforts to open talks
   with the Taliban and reiterated Washington's readiness to facilitate
   the Afghan-led peace process.

   Pompeo made a surprise stop in the Afghan capital where he met with
   Ghani before the two leaders addressed a joint news conference and
   agreed President Donald Trump's regional strategy of maintaining
   military pressure on the Taliban "is indeed working."

   The strategy, Trump announced last August, aims to convince the Taliban
   through diplomatic, military and social pressure that it cannot win on
   the battlefield and must engage in reconciliation talks with Kabul.

   But the Taliban demands direct talks with the U.S. and dismisses
   leaders in Kabul as "American stooges", insisting intra-Afghan talks in
   the presence of foreign "occupation" forces in the country would be
   "pointless."

   Pompeo and Ghani emphasized the peace process must be "Afghan-led and
   Afghan-owned." The Secretary of State again stopped short of rejecting
   the Taliban's demand for direct talks with Washington, saying the
   United States cannot run the process and the conflict cannot be settled
   from outside the country.

   The top American diplomat visited Kabul amid renewed hopes long-sought
   peace talks could be initiated, following last month's successful
   cease-fire between the Taliban and the Afghan government during the
   three-day Eid festivities.

   The insurgents have intensified battlefield attacks since ending their
   brief ceasefire, overrunning new Afghan territory and inflicting heavy
   casualties on government forces.

   Pompeo and Ghani also discussed preparations for the long delayed
   Afghan parliamentary and provincial council elections in October.

   Pompeo visited Afghanistan before this week's scheduled conference of
   international Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia, where participants are
   expected to call on the Taliban to quit violence in the name of
   religion and seek a peaceful end to the war.

   But the Islamist insurgency has rejected the upcoming meeting in Jeddah
   and other such gatherings as a U.S. ploy to justify their "military
   occupation" of Afghanistan, weaken the insurgency, and seek legitimacy
   for the "puppet" rulers in Kabul.

   "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this process under the
   title of conferences of the Islamic Scholars as an absolute
   anti-Islamic U.S. process, whereas its idea, logistical support and
   implementation is directly led by the U.S. itself," according to a
   Taliban statement.

   Pompeo made his first visit to Afghanistan since he became Secretary of
   State in April. He stopped in Kabul during his tour of Asian countries,
   including North Korea and Vietnam.