US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday to discuss Washington’s new strategy with President Ashraf Ghani. It was Tillerson’s first trip to Afghanistan as secretary of state and comes several weeks after US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis also paid an unannounced visit. The closed-door talks covered Ghani’s reform programme, his anti-corruption strategy and preparations for parliamentary elections due to take place next year. During Mattis’s visit last month Taliban militants fired multiple rockets towards the city’s international airport in an attack that killed one person and wounded 11 others. Tillerson is due to fly to Pakistan on Tuesday where he will pressure Islamabad to take action on the support Taliban and other “terrorist organisations” receive in the country.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 23, 2017 14:26 UTC