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Bloomberg
US Vice President Mike Pence paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, a nation where the Trump administration has stepped up involvement in what’s become America’s longest war.
Pence told the troops that “victory is closer than ever
before,†adding that US arm-
ed forces will remain in Afghanistan until the threat to the homeland is eliminated.
Before the rally at Bagram Airfield, the vice president
met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the coun-
try’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul.
The vice president, whose role carries with it the ability to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate, held his departure from Washington until final passage by Congress of a Republican tax bill that represents the Trump administration’s biggest legislative accomplishment. His vote wasn’t needed, but Pence played a prominent role in praising President Donald Trump’s legislative victory at a White House ceremony.
Pence, whose son is a Marine, had planned to be in Egypt and Israel this week but postponed that visit until mid-January after delays to the tax vote. His decision to go forward with the Afghanistan visit allows him to address US service members before the Christmas holiday as well as to meet
with Afghan leaders. Pence stays in regular communication with Ghani.
Speaking to reporters, Pence said that Ghani plans to have parliamentary elections next year and a presiden-
tial vote in 2019. As Trump wraps up his first year in
office, about 14,000 US military personnel are stationed in Afghanistan as well as 5,200 in Iraq and 2,000 in Syria.