MONITORING (SW) – The U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has told Senate Appropriations Committee the Afghan government will be a meaningful participant in any peace deal with the Taliban.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, flatly rejected President Donald Trump's request to slash the budget for the U.S. State Department by more than 23 percent.
He said the best thing to do to defeat the radical ideology is to invest in the lives of others. “A small school house in a poor region of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, you name the location, Africa, can do more damage to radical Islam than any bomb. Giving a woman a say about the future of her children is absolutely imperative to win this conflict”, he said.
Secretary Pompeo said on the occasion the counterterrorism interests would be protected in Afghanistan, and the U.S. would make sure that the ISIS and al-Qaida do not take over Afghanistan. Responding to a question, he said if the Taliban are reintegrated back into the Afghan community it would be on the U.S. terms, not the Taliban’s.
When Chairman Graham asked Secretary Pompeo when it comes to Afghanistan, can he assure this committee and the world that the Afghan government will be a meaningful participant in any peace deal? “More than that, they will be at the center. It will be Afghan-led”, he responded.
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