Summary
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Monday it was important for the Afghan government to be included in talks to end the country's 17-year war, an involvement that the Taliban has so far rejected. Shanahan, making his first trip to Afghanistan in his new role, met U.S. troops and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He said he had so far not received any direction to reduce the nearly 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan but noted what he called strong U.S. security interests in the region.
Khalilzad said after six days of talks with the Taliban in Doha last month that the United States and the Taliban had sketched the outlines for an eventual peace accord.
He has said since then that there has been progress on the future of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
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