US Secretary of State in secret visit to Afghanistan

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan.

Mr Tillerson visited Bagram Air Base for talks with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and other senior officials to outline the Trump administration’s new south Asia policy.

He also underscored the US commitment to stabilising the war-ravaged country, but stressed it is “conditions based,” meaning the Afghan government must meet certain benchmarks.

Cloaked in secrecy and under heavy security, Mr Tillerson slipped out of the Qatari capital of Doha in the pre-dawn hours and flew a military plane into Afghanistan yesterday on the third leg of a trip that started in Saudi Arabia. He will visit Pakistan today.

0 Soldiers walk past battle-scarred buildings in what was the main combat area of Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao