Pompeo, Gen Dunford due on Sept 5

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of Defence James Mattis has confirmed that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford will fly to Islamabad to meet new government officials.

Answering a question during a rare media briefing at the Pentagon, the secretary said, "as far as Pakistan goes, the secretary of state and the chairman are going to fly to Islamabad to meet new government that's in place there now."

Explaining the possible talking points of the meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, and other officials, the secretary said, "To make it very clear what we have to do, all of our nations, in meeting our common foe, the terrorists, and make that a primary part of the discussions."

During the briefing, Secretary Mattis announced that United Arab Emirates and Qatar have joined the Nato-led campaign in Afghanistan as partners. "32 of the 39 nations which have already committed forces to the mission agreed to either increase or sustain the current force levels through 2019," he said. He emphasised that the US was fully supporting Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation efforts, and "hard fighting is going to convince the Taliban they must negotiate."

The secretary was joined by Chairman Dunford during the briefing, who said that the US was going to maintain a presence to have influence in the region. "We have permanent interests in South Asia, diplomatic interests and security interests," he said adding that "the diplomatic presence, the security presence, and the form of that presence is going to change over time."

Giving out an example, he said that a few years ago, "we had over a hundred thousand US forces in Afghanistan and today we have about 14,000. "So there will be a permanent diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. There'll be permanent diplomatic presence across South Asia, but I certainly don’t expect that the current forces that we have in Afghanistan represent an enduring large military commitment," Gen Dunford said.

The Trump administration has been hoping that increased military pressure will help bring the Taliban to either surrender or negotiate. The Taliban committed to proposed ceasefire earlier but refused to negotiate with the Afghan government. Defending the administration's strategy, Mattis said, "There are positive reasons to stick with the strategy, and we are going to drive this to a negotiated settlement." He also dismissed that private military forces could replace US army troops in Afghanistan.

Secretary Mattis and Secretary Pompeo are scheduled to reach New Delhi for a 2+2 dialogue with Indian leaders in the first week of September. Secretary Pompeo and Chairman Dunford are expected to have a layover in Islamabad on September 5, where both leaders will meet civilian and military leadership.