KABUL - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday welcomed the beginning of the intra-Afghan talks, and said that for the first time in 20 years Afghans have sat down to solve the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan.
Speaking at an Atlantic Council think tank event, Pompeo call the Doha meeting a US success.
“For the first time now in 20 years, Afghans sat down together to begin to pound out what a reconciled, peaceful Afghanistan might look like. Under no illusions about who we’re negotiating with, who these parties are, how difficult that process will be, but it’s again, it’s a recognition of the reality that things that America has accomplished,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo also said that now there are fewer than 200 Al Qaeda left in Afghanistan. “There’s fewer than 200 Al Qaeda left in Afghanistan today. We are now delivering a set of outcomes that will reduce costs.” Pompeo added.
Meanwhile, the Eurasia Group Foundation found in its new report, which was published on Monday, that nearly 62% of Americans said they backed an agreement signed in February between the US and Taliban after they were provided with the details.
The report says that Americans prefer diplomacy over military intervention, want negotiations with adversaries like the Taliban and would rejoin international agreements the country has pulled out of under President Donald Trump.