Tillerson pays surprise visit to Afghanistan
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a secret two-hour visit to the main air base in Afghanistan.
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a secret two-hour visit to the main U.S. air base in Afghanistan on Monday, arriving in a military transport plane to meet top Afghan officials inside a massive bunker.
Nearly 20,000 military personnel, contractors and others live and work at the base, Bagram Airfield north of Kabul. Many were on high alert as the secretary arrived, fearing the kind of rocket or mortar attack that has become common.
That top U.S. officials must sneak into this country after 16 years of war, thousands of lives lost and hundreds of billions of dollars spent was testimony to the stalemate confronting the United States because of a stubborn and effective Taliban foe that is increasingly ascendant.
Tillerson would not even risk the short trip to Kabul to visit the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy or Afghan presidential palace, as his predecessors have done. The change reflects the increasingly uncertain security situation in Kabul and the fact that the United States’ presence is now surrounded by vast Taliban-controlled areas.
When the huge maw of the C-17 aircraft that he flew into Bagram opened, he was greeted by Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. operations in Afghanistan, along with a sizable contingent of soldiers and security guards.
At the headquarters building, a former prison, Tillerson and Nicholson met in another windowless room with Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani; its chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah; and its national security adviser, Hanif Atmar, as an armored truck and Humvee guarded outside.
Tillerson brought with him a six-person media contingent that was taken aside late the night before and sworn to secrecy about the trip until his plane returned to Doha, Qatar, where the trip had originated.
Tillerson said the United States would remain in Afghanistan until peace was restored. Or perhaps until things get much worse.
“The president has made it clear that we’re here to stay until we can secure a process of reconciliation and peace,” he said. “It’s not an unlimited commitment. He’s also made it clear it’s not a blank-check commitment. It’s a conditions-based commitment.”