Taliban cannot achieve militarily: US Deputy Secretary of State

U.S. Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken is in his Afghanistan visit to meet with President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, and other senior Afghan governmental officials.

In an exclusive interview with Ariana News, he says, the main purpose of his Afghanistan visit is to reaffirm the commitment of the United States of America for supporting the work of the unity government, work of Afghan security forces and to continue to work with President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah government efforts.

He called the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference with significant outcomes saying Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed his support for the government of Afghanistan, Afghanistan’s constitution and to help Afghanistan to revive stalled peace talks to bring a lasting and sustainable peace to the country.

“Everyone is in a sense of urgency and trying to advance that process and so Pakistan, United States, China all of us are in the support of the efforts of the government with an Afghan-run and Afghan owned process to see if the Taliban will be engaged in the reconciliation process,” Mr. Blinken said.

He believes Islamabad is in support of reconciliation process in Afghanistan, despite of a huge disbelief in Afghanistan.

U.S. official added that there is still an opportunity and the united state and the international community is committed to support Afghanistan and it is a strong message to the Taliban that it cannot achieve militarily.

The Deputy Secretary’s trip to Kabul  follows on from his participation in the Heart of Asia ministerial on December 9 in Islamabad.

Click here to watch the whole interview: