Monday, February 17, 2020
Kabul (BNA) President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker and a number of other members of the U.S. House of Representatives on the sideline of the 56th Munich Security Conference on Saturday evening, a presidential press office statement said yesterday.
Both sides discussed a range of issues pertaining to security, peace process and President Ghani’s prospect on it, Afghanistan’s fight against narcotics and terrorist groups, where terrorism was termed a common threat to the region as well as Afghanistan’s allies, the statement added.
President Ghani elucidated the Afghan government’s vision and commitment for sustainable and inclusive peace, with an emphasis to protecting the hard-earned gains of the past two decades.
The president provided information on the Afghan government’s economic plans and answered to the questions raised by the US senators on reduction of American troops in Afghanistan and its impacts as well as aftermaths in the region and Afghanistan, the statement added, quoting the president saying that the Afghan Defense and Security forces are leading 94 percent of the operations and the forces are capable enough to defend their people and homeland.
Having talked over the peace process, president Ghani told US congress delegation that the potential threats and opportunities must be precisely evaluated, adding that the government of Afghanistan has the determination, wisdom and capability to analyses the opportunities appropriately in order to bring sustainable peace to the country.
The participants also discussed ensuring the interests of Afghanistan and the United States. The president was quoted in the statement saying that: “We are still confronting a medium to long-term common threats that requires joint commitment to tackle them.”
The president stressed that the Taliban are still engaged in drug trafficking, while discussing the issue with the US Congressional delegation.
We haven’t seen any notable developments and concrete anti-terrorism step taken by Pakistan,” the president said, adding that the Taliban’s sanctuaries remain a dilemma that must be addressed.
