Afghan Government Closer to Talks with the Taliban, Says Nikki Haley

AVA- She called a weekend trip to Afghanistan by the U.N. Security Council “great” because “we could see dramatic changes in terms of what the U.S. policy has been doing.”

According to the top U.S. ambassador, Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan is working and it has yield “dramatic changes” in the country.

She further noted that the U.S. is “really is going to continue to work towards a peace process” but with the goal being that they don’t want Afghanistan to be a safe haven for terrorism any more.

Haley said Afghan officials told the UN envoys that “they’re starting to see the Taliban concede, they are starting to see them move towards coming to the table” as a result of a new strategy the United States put in place last summer that has given the U.S. military a freer hand to work with Afghan forces to defeat the Taliban.

Mrs. Nikki Haley also went on and said about Afghan government efforts for the fight against corruption in the country . She specifically pointed out to new “retirement age” plan for Afghan military officials and said that 70 generals are among 4000 military leaders who are going to be retired.

She also added that the UNSC delegation members have seen closely that “half of Afghan cabinet is under the age of 40” and a very young generation leadership is pushing forward in Afghanistan.

“I think the biggest importance for the U.S. is certainly elections. We have parliamentary elections this year that need to be take place and then the presidential election next year”, she briefed the reporters in New York from UNSC delegation trip to Kabul.

According to the U.S. ambassador, Afghan government has asked the UNSC delegation for three things which include; consensus for international pressure to get Pakistan to change its behavior, help in the fight against narcotics and consensus of UNSC members to support from the region.