Mattis discusses vision for victory on visit to Kabul
KABUL — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday he believes victory in Afghanistan is still possible — not necessarily on the battlefield but in facilitating a Taliban reconciliation with the Afghan government.
Mattis spoke shortly before arriving in Kabul, where security concerns were so high that reporters traveling with him were not allowed to publish stories until his party had moved from the Kabul airport to the U.S.-led military coalition’s headquarters. That was the first such restriction on coverage of a Pentagon chief ’s visit in memory.
Mattis later met with President Ashraf Ghani and top U.S. commanders.
“We do look toward a victory in Afghanistan,” he said, adding, “Not a military victory — the victory will be a political reconciliation” with the Taliban, which has achieved a stalemate in recent years and shown little interest in conceding to the Kabul government.
Mattis, a retired Marine general who commanded U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan in the opening weeks of the war in 2001, said getting the Taliban to reconcile en masse may be “a bridge too far.” So the emphasis is on drawing in Taliban elements piecemeal.
He described this approach as an effort to “start peeling off those who are tired of fighting,” after more than 16 years of war.
“We know there is interest on the Taliban side,” he said.
He defined victory in Afghanistan as a political settlement between the Taliban and the government, and an Afghan military that is capable of securing the country largely on its own. At that point, he said, Afghanistan would not be “a haven for attacks internationally” as it was when al Qaeda used the country as a launching pad for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Ghani opened his meeting with Mattis at the Presidential Palace by expressing appreciation for the U.S. military’s sacrifices over the years, and offering praise for the new war strategy approved by President Trump last August.
Ghani called the new U.S. approach a “game changer.”
“It has forced every actor to re-examine their assumptions,” he said, adding that in the short run this could intensify the conflict. On the positive side, he said, it enables his government to make an unconditional peace offer to the Taliban without it looking like a surrender.
U.S. intelligence officials are predicting the war will remain stalemated as the traditionally most intensive fighting season begins this spring.