KABUL – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in war-ravaged Kabul in anunannounced stopover on Tuesday to brainstorm ongoing peace talks with theTaliban.
In his ‘surprise’ tour, Pompeo met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as hestopped over on his way to New Delhi for meetings with Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and other officials.
The seven-hour visit to Afghanistan comes ahead of the seventh round ofpeace talks between Taliban leaders and US officials aimed at finding apolitical settlement to end the war in Afghanistan; the next round of peacetalks is scheduled to begin on June 29 in Doha.
“I hope we have a peace deal before September 1. That’s certainly ourmission set,” Pompeo said.
“While we’ve made clear to the Taliban that we are prepared to remove ourforces, I want to be clear, we’ve not yet agreed on a timeline to do so,”said Pompeo.
The US official said the two sides are nearly ready to conclude a drafttext outlining the Taliban’s commitment to join fellow Afghans in ensuringthat Afghan soil never again becomes a safe haven for “terrorists”.
“We agree that peace is our highest priority and that Afghanistan mustnever again serve as a platform for international terrorism,” he shared.
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Pompeo said all sides agree that finalizing a US-Taliban understanding onterrorism and foreign troop presence will open the door to intra-Afghandialogue and negotiation, adding that the next step is at the heart of theUS effort.
“We are not and will not negotiate with the Taliban on behalf of thegovernment or people of Afghanistan,” he clarified.
Pompeo’s visit is crucial considering that Pakistan recently hosted a peaceconference ‘Lahore Process’ which was attended by senior Afghan leaders.
Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani is also scheduled to tour Pakistan this week.
