Mattis makes surprise visit to Kabul for talks on peace process with Taliban

KABUL — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made a surprise visit to Kabul on Friday and held talks with Afghan government leaders on a peace process with Taliban insurgents and the country’s spiraling violence.

Arriving in a capital gripped by security jitters and political uncertainty ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for next month, Mattis met with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, the presidential palace said. Also among the topics, it said, were Afghanistan’s relations with neighboring Pakistan, which Kabul has long accused of harboring militants who carry out attacks on Afghan and U.S. troops.

Joining Mattis on the visit was Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who traveled to Islamabad earlier this week with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a mission to reset testy relations with Pakistan’s new government.

[New U.S. general takes over in Afghanistan amid questions about American presence]

Washington has frozen $800 million in military aid to Pakistan this year, accusing it of failing to rein in militants on its soil and pressure their leaders to accept face-to-face talks with the Afghan government.

“They discussed the peace process, the positive impact of the South Asia strategy, reforms in the Afghan national defense security forces, the upcoming elections, counterterrorism and dialogue with Pakistan,” Harun Chakhansuri, a spokesman for Ghani, said of the meeting.

Mattis did not speak with reporters about the meeting which came after months of heightened concern among Afghans about deteriorating security. Attacks by Taliban insurgents and Islamic State affiliates in recent weeks have left hundreds of Afghan security personnel and civilians dead, with government and U.S.-led troops seemingly unable to stop them.

Speaking with reporters before his arrival in Kabul, Mattis said he was hopeful about peace talks with the Taliban, despite the questions over Washington’s strategy in Afghanistan.

“Right now, we have more indications that reconciliation is no longer just a shimmer out there, no longer just a mirage,” Mattis was quoted as saying.

“It now has some framework. There’s some open lines of communication,” Mattis added.

[Taliban runs parallel state in many parts of Afghanistan, report says]

Last month, a top State Department official met Taliban officials in Qatar to try to lay the groundwork for broader peace talks and for finding a way to end the current war, which began 17 years ago when Afghan resistance forces and U.S. airstrikes drove the Taliban from power in Kabul following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Including periods of Soviet occupation and civil war involving various factions, Afghanistan has been wracked by fighting for most of the last four decades.

The U.S. government has pointed to the Taliban’s acceptance of a temporary truce in June as a reason the talks should be viewed with hope.

“The most important work that has to be done is beginning the political process and reconciliation,” Dunford told reporters traveling with him.

“What we are trying to do in the military dimension is convince the Taliban that they cannot win on the battlefield and that they must engage in a peace process,” he said.

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