The United States promised on Wednesday to take into account India’s concerns as it seeks to pull out of Afghanistan, in high-level talks between officials of the two countries in Washington.
The talks involved top diplomats and defense chiefs of the two countries.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that they shared with Indian counterparts “the path that we’re headed down,” on Afghanistan.
“We’re very transparent. We understand the concerns, too, that India has, rightful concerns that they have about a terrorism emanating from Pakistan, and we assured them that we would take that into account,” Pompeo said at a joint press conference.
He hoped for “significant reduction in violence” in Afghanistan to allow US reduce its footprint in the country.
“We are hopeful that all of the relevant political participants in Afghanistan, the Afghan Government, non-Afghan Government leaders inside of Afghanistan, the Taliban, we’re hopeful they will all conclude that the right answer is a significant reduction in violence leading to a ceasefire and a set of negotiations amongst and between the Afghan peoples and their leaders such that the United States can reduce its footprint while continuing to ensure that the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan to the homeland here in the United States has a greatly reduced risk,” Pompeo said.
Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that his country is concerned about the future of Afghanistan.
“We believe that the reconciliation process in Afghanistan should be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned,” Jaishankar said. “We have every confidence that the gains which have been achieved by the international community over the last two decades will be protected and preserved in that process.”
