US pursuing political solution in Afghanistan: Pompeo

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United States has reaffirmed its committed to a political settlement to the Afghan conflict and preventing future terrorist attacks.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo suggested in an interview a broad coalition of non-Taliban Afghans to reinforce the ongoing peace process.

Speaking to a congressional news outlet, The Hill, the secretary of state listed the two “necessary conditions” that Washington was trying to achieve in Afghanistan.

Asked how the US would define victory in Afghanistan, Pompeo replied “We are working to achieve reconciliation so that this conflict can be resolved.

“We can take down the violence level; we can get a political outcome. That’s a necessary condition,” he said, without giving a clear definition of victory.

He added: “The second necessary condition is that we continue to be able to perform our counter-terror operations, the ones we were speaking about before.”

The US was working with its partners and allies in the region and other people to achieve the two objectives, he said, adding Zalmay Khalilzad was already trying to restart US-Taliban talks.

PAN Monitor/mud

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