US Defense Secretary James Mattis arrived in Kabul this morning in an unannounced visit.
Mattis spoke shortly before arriving in Kabul, where security concerns were so high that reporters traveling with him were not allowed to publish stories until his party had moved from the Kabul airport to the US-led military coalition’s headquarters. That was the first such restriction on coverage of a Pentagon chief’s visit in memory, AP reported.
Shah Hussain Murtazavi, acting presidential spokesman, confirming Mattis’s arrival said that he is scheduled to hold a meeting with President Ashraf Ghani this afternoon.
“We do look toward a victory in Afghanistan,” Mattis said, adding, “Not a military victory — the victory will be a political reconciliation” with the Taliban, which has achieved a stalemate in recent years and shown little interest in conceding to the Kabul government.
Mattis said getting the Taliban to reconcile en masse may be “a bridge too far.” So the emphasis is on drawing in Taliban elements piecemeal.
He described this approach as an effort to “start peeling off those who are tired of fighting,” after more than 16 years of war.
“We know there is interest on the Taliban side,” he said.
He defined victory in Afghanistan as a political settlement between the Taliban and the government, and an Afghan military that is capable of securing the country largely on its own. At that point, he said, Afghanistan would not be “a haven for attacks internationally” as it was when al-Qaeda used the country as a launching pad for the attacks of September 11, 2001.
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