US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made his international debut yesterday with a visit to Afghanistan to see US troops and commanders, meet with Afghan leaders and assess whether US withdrawal plans were too risky to Afghan security.
“We’re looking for success in Afghanistan that is lasting,” Carter told reporters traveling with him on his first trip since being sworn in as Pentagon chief on Tuesday.
Carter, an experienced defense strategist, revealed little about his thinking on current trends and future prospects for Afghanistan, saying he was using his trip to gather information that would enable him to formulate advice for US President Barack Obama.
Photo: AFP
Consulting is his way of “getting my own thinking together,” he said.
Carter is Obama’s fourth Pentagon chief. He served as the Pentagon’s No. 2 official earlier in Obama’s tenure and is seen as a technocrat largely untested on the international stage.
Afghanistan’s security forces have improved greatly, but the country is still struggling with a resilient insurgency 13 years after US troops invaded and toppled the Taliban regime. Many Afghans worry that Obama is risking an Iraq-like relapse in security by cutting US troop totals in half this year, from the current 10,000, and ending the military mission entirely at the end of next year.
In an in-flight interview, Carter said he expected to discuss the troop withdrawal plan with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and get his assessment of how the US military can best support the continued development of Afghan forces.
“That’s what I’m here to find out,” he said. “How do things stand now, and what’s the best path forward.”
US forces ended their main combat mission in December last year, but have remained in smaller numbers to continue training and advising the Afghans and to conduct counterterrorism strikes against extremist groups.
Carter said he also expected to hear Ghani’s views on prospects for peace talks with the Taliban.
Carter said he chose Afghanistan as his first overseas destination “because this is where we still have 10,000 American troops and they come first in my mind, always.”
He said he would meet with General John Campbell, the top US commander in Afghanistan, as well as General Lloyd Austin, the head of Central Command who has overall responsibility for US military operations in the greater Middle East.
Campbell recently presented Obama with options that include slowing this year’s troop drawdown and potentially keeping a key US training site open longer than scheduled, without abandoning Obama’s plan to have essentially all US troops out of the country before he leaves office in January 2017.
Carter indicated no strong concern about reports of extremists in Afghanistan taking up the cause of the Islamic State group that has risen to prominence in Iraq and Syria. He said this appears to be a case of extremists “rebranding” themselves.
“The reports I’ve seen still have them in small numbers,” he said.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS