WASHINGTON (PAN.
“She’s been very supportive of the efforts of the council and of his personal efforts,” the State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told the media, after Clinton’s brief meeting with Rabbani at the State Department on Thursday morning.
“I think that was less of a substantive meeting and more of a thank you meeting on her behalf. The substantive meetings are still going on,” said Nuland, referring to Rabbani’s talks with Deputy Secretary of State Thomas R Nides.
But no details of the meeting were disclosed to the media.
“We are all glad that we now have a strong Afghan leadership on this (peace) process that is accepted by all parties, but I don’t think any of us are satisfied with Taliban’s attitude towards it, which has not participated (in the process),” she said.
Later addressing a Washington think-tank, Clinton said the security transition in Afghanistan was on track.
“In Afghanistan, as we transition full responsibility for security to the Afghan government in 2014, we also need to focus on helping Afghans crackdown on corruption, move toward economic self-sufficiency, elect their new leadership in 2014, advance a peace and reconciliation process and pursue a regional framework, hopefully with Pakistan as a constructive partner,” she said at the Foreign Policy Group’s “Transformational Trends 2013” forum.
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