Photo: CIA map showing Pakistan-Afghanistan border
Indicating that President Donald Trump would adopt a broader regional approach toward the elusive goal of Afghan stability, the top American diplomat spoke to leaders in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke to key foreign policy officials in Islamabad, New Delhi and Kabul ahead of President Trump’s prime time address on Monday during which will spell out his administration’s strategy for Afghanistan.
Notable to the President’s forthcoming remarks to the nation on South Asia, the Secretary of State spoke over the phone today with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, and Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, the State Department said hours before President Trump’s address.
“The topic was how the United States would like to work with each country to stabilize South Asia through a new, integrated regional strategy,” Spokesperson Heather Nauert said.
According to media reports, military commanders and national security advisers have endorsed the suggestion to send additional American troops to Afghanistan, faltering in the fight against the Afghan Taliban insurgency and ISIS terror threat.
Currently, the United States has 8400 troops assisting the Afghan security forces in the landlocked country, which it invaded in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to defeat al-Qaeda that had a safe haven in the country.
Under Trump’s predecessor, the United States escalated its military engagement in Afghanistan and border regions of Pakistan in order to eliminate the al-Qaeda terror threat but the policy only achieved partial results on account of a lot of problems.
The region is sensitively poised at the moment with no end to Pakistan-India tensions in sight. The two countries have been fighting over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir territory, making it a flash point between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
The two also compete fiercely for influence in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, ahead of President Trump’s policy speech, a Kashmiri leader asked the Trump Administration to take into account the centrality of Kashmir dispute to any efforts for durable peace in South Asia.
“Kashmir is central to the region and I urge President Trump to give due consideration to resolving the conflict and ending the suffering of Kaashmiris have suffered for far too long,” former AJK president Barrister Sultan Mahmood said, arguing that peace in Kabul demands peaceful resolution to the Kashmir dispute.
Speaking to the Pakistani media in Springfield, Virginia, Mahmood said the Kashmiris have been pledged inalienable rights by the United Nations, which need to be realized.
