The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – who arrived in Kabul for an unannounced visit on Tuesday – said he hopes Afghanistan will achieve a peace deal ahead of the Presidential Elections due on 28th of September.
“I hope we have a peace deal before September 1st. That’s certainly our mission,” he said.
During his visit to Kabul, he hold talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah, agreeing on peace as their top priority and that Afghanistan must never serve as a battling ground for international terrorism.
Pompeo exclaimed the US is prepared to pullout its forces still in Afghanistan, however, did not set a deadline for such a move.
“While we have made it clear to the Taliban, we are prepared to remove our forces,” he said, as quoted by local media. “I want to be clear, we have not yet agreed on a timeline to do so.”
“Simultaneously, the United States is laying the ground force for intra-Afghan negotiations to begin as soon as possible.” he further said. “Objective of those negotiations is for Afghans to agree on a timeline and a political roadmap for reaching a comprehensive peace agreement.”
Meanwhile, he said the US welcomes Germany’s preparation for hosting a meeting on Afghan peace.
“As for our next diplomatic step, we welcome Germany’s commitment with Qatar to convene an intra-Afghan dialogue next month,” he said. “This is an opportunity for Afghans to endorse the urgent need for intra-Afghan negotiations.”
Furthermore, he called for Pakistan’s “practical measures”, as he believes the country has important role in the process, as well as the region in general.
“Pakistan has a particular important role to play in this process and in the promotion of peace and stability in the region,” he said. “Progress has been made and we will continue to look to Pakistan practical measures, cooperation on peace talks and the implementation of any agreement.”
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