Tillerson makes secret Afghan visit to meet leaders

Bloomberg

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday, meeting with the nation’s leaders leaders as the Trump administration pursues a new strategy pledging an open-ended troop commitment after more than
15 years of war.
Tillerson met at Bagram Air Base with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah before returning to Doha after less than three hours. He called on Pakistan to clamp down on terrorists taking safe haven in the country and left the door open to the prospect of the Taliban joining the government.
“There’s a place for them in the government if they are ready to come, renouncing terrorism, renouncing violence and being committed to a stable prosperous Afghanistan,” Tillerson told a small group of reporters traveling with him. The State Department earlier posted a picture of Tillerson sitting alongside Ghani.
The trip comes two months after President Donald Trump announced an open-ended commitment to Afghanistan that will put as many as 4,000 more US troops into the nation’s longest-lasting conflict. While Tillerson called the U.S. approach to the country “conditions-based,” officials say American forces will remain there as long as it takes to deny terrorists a haven and bring about a political settlement with the Taliban. Trump has criticized his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, for announcing timetables for withdrawal.
In a stark indication of the country’s deteriorated security situation, Tillerson went only to Bagram, the US base about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Kabul, and had Afghan
leaders come to him.
His visit was cloaked in secrecy, as is customary for top US officials: He flew to Afghanistan in the pre-dawn hours from Doha, Qatar, where he was on a trip to forge a broader alliance against Iran and pursue a resolution to Qatar’s conflict with a coalition led by Saudi Arabia that has left the emirate
economically isolated.
Tillerson’s schedule for Monday originally had him meeting embassy staff in Doha, and his whereabouts were unknown until he returned to Qatar. He’s scheduled to fly to Islamabad on Oct. 24 to keep up the pressure on Pakistan, before heading to India and Switzerland.