INTRIGUING

McMaster Touts Afghan Leader as ‘Reliable Partner’ in Kabul Visit

Amid questions over U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.

President Trump’s national security adviser met with officials in Kabul on Sunday, in the first high-level visit to Afghanistan by the new U.S. administration. The visit came just days after the U.S. military used a massive ordnance air blast bomb in an operation against ISIS militants in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. Amid questions about whether that bombing might signal more active operations in Afghanistan, H.R. McMaster met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other high-ranking officials to discuss security, counterterrorism, reforms, and development, Afghan authorities said. Both sides also stressed the urgent need to fight terrorism in the region, with Ghani reportedly telling McMaster that entire “generations” of people could be affected if serious steps are not taken to stop terrorism. McMaster echoed that sentiment in an interview with ABC News broadcast on Sunday, describing Ghani as a “much more reliable Afghan partner” than previous leaders. “The stakes are high,” McMaster said. “This is really the modern-day frontier between barbarism and civilization,” he said.