Hagel in Kabul as NATO War Winds Down

Local Editor

US War Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Kabul on Saturday on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan in the final weeks of NATO's 13-year war against the Taliban.

Hagel said Afghanistan had "come a long way" over the past decade and that a newly-elected Afghan government and its army were ready to take charge of security as the bulk of the international force departs by the end of the month.

"As difficult, as challenging, as long as this has been - by any definition, the country of Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan are far better off today than they were 13 years ago," Hagel told reporters on his plane.

He further added: "They have the ability to decide their own fate, their own way, on their terms. They're not completely there yet. But they've come a long way."
The advances had come as a result of the "blood and treasure" spent by American, allied and Afghan troops, he claimed.

Hagel, who is shortly to step down from office, will meet with President Ashraf Ghani as well as senior US commanders and some US troops who are still deployed in the country.
Hagel, who took office in February 2013, resigned last month, rejecting accounts that he was forced out and saying it was a mutual agreement with the president.

After a prolonged crisis over a fraud-mired election, President Ghani came to power in September after signing a power-sharing deal with his poll rival Abdullah Abdullah.

Ghani this week attended a donor conference in London, stressing he would "do things differently" from his predecessor Hamid Karzai, who had troubled ties with Western countries.

"This transition from combat to non-combat is most welcome," he said of the NATO mission change.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team