{"id":866,"date":"2017-09-27T12:28:41","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T12:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madaresharghi.com\/mattis-nato-chief-renew-commitment-to-afghan-conflict\/"},"modified":"2017-09-27T12:28:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T12:28:41","slug":"mattis-nato-chief-renew-commitment-to-afghan-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/mattis-nato-chief-renew-commitment-to-afghan-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattis, NATO chief renew commitment to Afghan conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

madaresharghi<\/a>
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US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg renewed their commitment to Afghanistan Wednesday, asterrorists fired rockets that killed one person and wounded four in Kabul.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\n\tMattis is the first member of US President Donald Trump\u2019s cabinet to visit the country since Trump pledged to stay the course in America\u2019s longest war, AFP reported.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a sign of the nation’s continuing insecurity a volley of rockets landed on a house near Kabul international airport hours after Mattis flew in, the Interior Ministry said.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne person died and four others were wounded \u2013 all from the same family \u2013 in the assault claimed by the Taliban, which said on social media the missiles had been aimed at Mattis’s plane.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Daesh terrorist group’s local Khorasan Province affiliate also claimed responsibility, as security forces were locked in a stand-off with the attackers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe unannounced high-level visit came as Afghanistan’s beleaguered security forces struggle to beat back the Taliban, which has been on the offensive since the withdrawal of US-led NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.<\/p>\n

\n\tMattis, along with Stoltenberg, was to hold talks with President Ashraf Ghani and other top officials to discuss the US-led NATO “train and assist” mission \u2013 designed to strengthen Afghanistan’s military so it can defend the country on its own.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a joint news conference with Ghani at the presidential palace Mattis and Stoltenberg pledged the support of US and NATO allies to the Afghan conflict, and expressed determination to stop the country becoming a safe haven for terrorists.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe foreign assistance would give Afghan forces a “compelling battlefield advantage over anything the Taliban stands to mass against” it, Mattis told reporters.<\/p>\n

\n\t“We will not abandon Afghanistan to a merciless enemy trying to kill its way to power.”<\/p>\n

\n\tStoltenberg said: “The more stable Afghanistan is the more safe we will be,” adding that more than 15 NATO members had agreed to send additional troops.<\/p>\n

\n\tUS generals have for months been describing the situation in Afghanistan as a stalemate, despite years of support for Afghan partners, continued help from a NATO coalition and an overall cost in fighting and reconstruction to the United States of more than $1 trillion.<\/p>\n

\n\tOctober marks the 16th anniversary of the start of the war. America is pressing NATO partners to increase their own troop levels in the country to help Afghan forces get the upper hand in the grinding battle against the Taliban and Daesh.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe resurgent Taliban have promised to turn Afghanistan into a “graveyard” for foreign forces and have been mounting deadly attacks as they maintain their grip on large swathes of the country.<\/p>\n

\n\tNATO allies have around 5,000 troops deployed around the country.<\/p>\n

\n\tCritics have questioned what the extra US soldiers can accomplish that previous forces \u2013 who numbered some 100,000 at the height of the fighting \u2013 were unable to do.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this year Ghani ordered a near-doubling of the country’s Special Operations Command \u2013 the elite fighting force spearheading Afghanistan’s war against insurgents \u2013 from 17,000 as part of a four-year plan that also aims to strengthen Afghanistan’s air force.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

madaresharghi US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg renewed their commitment to Afghanistan Wednesday, asterrorists fired rockets that killed one person and wounded four in Kabul. Mattis is the first member of US President Donald Trump\u2019s cabinet to visit the country since Trump pledged to stay the course in America\u2019s longest war, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[639],"yoast_head":"\nMattis, NATO chief renew commitment to Afghan conflict - madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/mattis-nato-chief-renew-commitment-to-afghan-conflict\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mattis, NATO chief renew commitment to Afghan conflict - madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"madaresharghi US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg renewed their commitment to Afghanistan Wednesday, asterrorists fired rockets that killed one person and wounded four in Kabul. 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