The US has promised to finance a large contingent of Afghan security forces at least until 2017 and provide up to $800 million to foster economic development in the country in its post-war scenario.
A day before his meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held talks with Secretary of State John Kerry and Pentagon head Ashton Carter, together with Afghanisan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah on Monday, Efe news agency reported.
At a press conference at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, the four officials underlined the strength of the bilateral strategic partnership despite nearly 14 years of war, and tensions during the final phase of former Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s government. Ghani’s first official trip to the US, after becoming president in September, began with a visit to the Pentagon where he expressed his gratitude for the “sacrifice” of American soldiers in Afghanistan since 2001 when they toppled the Taliban regime.
Ghani thanked the soldiers “on behalf of a grateful nation to people in this building and the larger US community for sacrificing continuously since September 11 to bring us freedom and hope”.
The Afghan president lived in Washington for a decade and worked at the World Bank until the fall of the Taliban regime.
During his day-long talks with Kerry and Carter, Ghani obtained the US government’s commitment to ask the Congress for funds to support a 352,000 security personnel in Afghanistan until at least 2017.
21 Pak Taliban militants killed in Afghan border drone strikes
Two separate US drone strikes on Tuesday killed at least 21 Pakistani Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province near the country’s porous border with Pakistan amid an intensified offensive against terrorists in the restive tribal areas.
The CIA-operated spy planes this evening targeted a militant compound on the Afghan border killing 11 suspected militants including six commanders of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The US drone fired four missiles at a militant hideout in the Konar border area killing the 11 militant suspects including the six TTP commanders. The strike was the second in a day as in the earlier attack in Nazyan district of Nangarhar province, nine suspected militants were reportedly killed, sources said. The nine militants, including driver of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) chief Mangal Bagh, were killed in the drone strike in Nazyan district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, near the Pak-Afghan border.
Shakir Sipah, driver of Mangal Bagh, the chief of the banned LI group, was among those killed in the drone attack. Details could not be independently verified as access by journalists is severely restricted in the region. Militant hideouts have been frequently pounded by Pakistan’s security forces in Tirah Valley area of Khyber region. Khyber is one of Pak’s seven semi-autonomous regions governed by tribal laws and lies near the porous Afghan border.
A day before his meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held talks with Secretary of State John Kerry and Pentagon head Ashton Carter, together with Afghanisan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah on Monday, Efe news agency reported.
At a press conference at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, the four officials underlined the strength of the bilateral strategic partnership despite nearly 14 years of war, and tensions during the final phase of former Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s government. Ghani’s first official trip to the US, after becoming president in September, began with a visit to the Pentagon where he expressed his gratitude for the “sacrifice” of American soldiers in Afghanistan since 2001 when they toppled the Taliban regime.
Ghani thanked the soldiers “on behalf of a grateful nation to people in this building and the larger US community for sacrificing continuously since September 11 to bring us freedom and hope”.
The Afghan president lived in Washington for a decade and worked at the World Bank until the fall of the Taliban regime.
During his day-long talks with Kerry and Carter, Ghani obtained the US government’s commitment to ask the Congress for funds to support a 352,000 security personnel in Afghanistan until at least 2017.
21 Pak Taliban militants killed in Afghan border drone strikes
Two separate US drone strikes on Tuesday killed at least 21 Pakistani Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province near the country’s porous border with Pakistan amid an intensified offensive against terrorists in the restive tribal areas.
The CIA-operated spy planes this evening targeted a militant compound on the Afghan border killing 11 suspected militants including six commanders of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The US drone fired four missiles at a militant hideout in the Konar border area killing the 11 militant suspects including the six TTP commanders. The strike was the second in a day as in the earlier attack in Nazyan district of Nangarhar province, nine suspected militants were reportedly killed, sources said. The nine militants, including driver of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) chief Mangal Bagh, were killed in the drone strike in Nazyan district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, near the Pak-Afghan border.
Shakir Sipah, driver of Mangal Bagh, the chief of the banned LI group, was among those killed in the drone attack. Details could not be independently verified as access by journalists is severely restricted in the region. Militant hideouts have been frequently pounded by Pakistan’s security forces in Tirah Valley area of Khyber region. Khyber is one of Pak’s seven semi-autonomous regions governed by tribal laws and lies near the porous Afghan border.