The speaker of the US House met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul yesterday for talks about the ongoing strategic review of the US mission in Afghanistan, the president’s office said.
Nancy Pelosi arrived in Afghanistan on Friday to meet with Afghan officials and US and NATO military leaders, said Captain Elizabeth Mathias, a US military spokeswoman.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, also met with US troops during her two-day visit.
PHOTO: EPA
Karzai and Pelosi talked about the US strategy review of the situation in Afghanistan and Pelosi reiterated the US’ long-term commitment to Afghanistan’s security situation and economic development, Karzai’s office said.
Afghanistan was to send a high-level delegation headed by Foreign Minister Dadfar Rangeen Spanta to the US today “to review the joint strategy and the fight against terrorism,” the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Afghanistan’s interior and defense ministers, its national security director and chief of intelligence are on the delegation.
Pakistan is also sending representatives to take part in the review. Spanta and Pakistan’s foreign minister are expected to meet together with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Earlier, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Friday that Washington could accept a political agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban if the insurgents laid down their arms and accepted the government’s terms.
He was responding to a question from a Pakistani reporter about whether a deal struck by Pakistan with Taliban fighters in the restive Swat valley could serve as a model for Afghanistan.
On Monday, Pakistan announced it would agree to the imposition of Islamic law in the northwest valley as part of an agreement aimed at restoring peace after an 18-month military campaign. The pact was spearheaded by a hard-line cleric who is negotiating with the Taliban in the valley to give up their arms.
A reporter from Pakistan’s Geo Television brought up the Swat deal and criticism of it by Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to the region.
The reporter asked whether, if Pakistan succeeds in pacifying militant activity in Swat, the US would allow Afghans to make a similar type of agreement.
“If there is a reconciliation, if insurgents are willing to put down their arms, if the reconciliation is essentially on the terms being offered by the government, then I think we would be very open to that,” Gates said. “We have said all along that ultimately some sort of political reconciliation has to be part of the long-term solution in Afghanistan.”
Later, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said: “The secretary is too polite to take issue with the premise of the question, but he was in no way equating the prospect for reconciliation in Afghanistan with whatever deal the Pakistani government may or may not be trying to cut with militants in Swat Province.”
Gates also welcomed the fact that NATO nations have signaled a willingness to provide more troops or other assistance to the war effort.
“Countries are making new commitments on a fairly steady basis on both the civilian and military sides,” Gates said. “I expect there will be new commitments by the time of the NATO summit [in April].”
The death of a former head of China’s one-child policy has been met not by tributes, but by castigation of the abandoned policy on social media this week. State media praised Peng Peiyun (彭珮雲), former head of China’s National Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, as “an outstanding leader” in her work related to women and children. The reaction on Chinese social media to Peng’s death in Beijing on Sunday, just shy of her 96th birthday, was less positive. “Those children who were lost, naked, are waiting for you over there” in the afterlife, one person posted on China’s Sina Weibo platform. China’s
‘NO COUNTRY BUMPKIN’: The judge rejected arguments that former prime minister Najib Razak was an unwitting victim, saying Najib took steps to protect his position Imprisoned former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was yesterday convicted, following a corruption trial tied to multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund. The nation’s high court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than US$700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund. Najib denied any wrongdoing, and maintained the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he had been misled by rogue financiers led by businessman Low Taek Jho. Low, thought to be the scandal’s mastermind, remains
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced plans for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an anti-Semitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harm’s way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and
RSS