US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday he hopes for a peace deal with the Taliban “before September 1”, speaking as he made his first visit to Kabul since Washington launched talks with the insurgents last year.
Pompeo met with President Ashraf Ghani as well as GeneralScott Miller, who leads NATO’s Afghanistan mission and the US war effort in thecountry, as well as other high-level Afghan officials during the unannouncedone-day visit to the Afghan capital.
He said peace was Washington’s “highest priority”.Last September the US began a fresh push to bring the Taliban to thenegotiating table to end America’s longest war. “I hope we have a peacedeal before September 1, that’s certainly our mission set,” Pompeo saidduring the visit.
US officials have previously said they are hoping for a dealbefore the upcoming Afghan presidential elections, which have already beendelayed twice and are now set for September.
The next round of talks between the Taliban and the US areset to begin on June 29 in Doha. The talks have centred on four issues:counter-terrorism, the foreign troop presence, an intra-Afghan dialogue, and apermanent ceasefire.
The Taliban have insisted that foreign troops must leave,and refused to speak with the Afghan government in Kabul, whom they deem”puppets”. Pompeo said the USis nearly ready to conclude a “draft text” outlining Taliban promisesnever to allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for international terrorismagain. “In light of this progress we’ve begun discussions with the Talibanregarding foreign military presence which today remains conditions-based,”he said.
“And while we’ve made clear to the Taliban that we’reprepared to remove our forces, I want to be clear we’ve not yet agreed on atimeline to do so.” Huge swathes of Afghan society worry that if the USdoes make a deal with the Taliban, the militant Islamists would try to seizepower and undo advances in women’s rights, media freedoms, and legalprotections.Pompeo’s visit also came amid an escalatingregional standoff with neighbouring Iran, as Washington announced sanctionsagainst supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and US President Donald Trumpwarned of “overwhelming” retaliation to any attack.