US Defence Secretary Esper in Kabul on unannounced visit

KABUL: US Defence Secretary Mark Esper arrived in Kabul on Sunday (Oct 20) on an unannounced visit, an Afghan official said.

Esper's visit – his first to Afghanistan since being confirmed as Pentagon chief in July – comes amid deep uncertainty about the fate of America's military mission in Afghanistan after talks between Washington and the Taliban collapsed.

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According to Fawad Aman, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, Esper was due to meet with "key leaders and receive an operational update".

The United States and the Taliban were last month on the brink of signing a deal that would have seen US forces begin to withdraw from Afghanistan in return for various insurgent security commitments.

But negotiations collapsed at the last minute when President Donald Trump declared talks "dead" following a Taliban attack that killed a US soldier.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy leadiRead More – Source