US national security adviser visits Kabul for Afghan talks
McMaster meets president after giant bomb raid
KABUL // The US national security adviser yesterday arrived in Kabul days after the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on ISIL hideouts in eastern Afghanistan, killing about a hundred militants.
On his first visit to the country as president Donald Trump’s envoy, Gen Herbert McMaster said he was holding “very important talks on mutual cooperation” with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and his senior officials.
Mr Ghani’s office later said Gen McMaster discussed security issues and counterterrorism efforts as well as reforms aimed at tackling corruption.
“As a result of joint Afghan and international forces efforts, no safe havens will be left for terrorists in Afghanistan,” Gen McMaster was quoted as saying in a statement that gave few clues to the Trump administration’s future course of action in the country.
US-led Nato troops have been at war in Afghanistan since 2001, after the Taliban regime was ousted for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
The US has about 8,400 troops in the country, with another 5,000 from Nato allies, as efforts to negotiate a lasting peace settlement between Kabul and the Taliban have repeatedly fallen through.
On Thursday, the US military dropped its GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, dubbed the Mother of All Bombs in combat for the first time.
The target was ISIL hideouts in the Achin district of Nangarhar province.
Afghanistan’s defence ministry yesterday put the death toll at 95 militants and no civilian fatalities.
The attack triggered global criticism, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered as big a threat as the resurgent Taliban.
It came a week after Mr Trump ordered missile strikes against Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack, and as China warned of the potential for conflict amid rising US tensions with North Korea.