Vice President made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Thursday, Mike Pence met with Afghan leaders and gave a powerful speech in front of the U.S. troops.
VP Pence’s visit to Afghanistan was cloaked in secrecy, Mr Pence congratulated the US troops, which arrived four months after President Trump outlined a new strategy. The trip of the vice president to the war-torn country was realised under heavy security, Pence landed at Bagram Air Base, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan.
Later Pence arrived by helicopter in the capital of Kabul to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He later returned to the base to address U.S. troops and receive briefings from Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Pence’s surprise pre-Christmas visit was the first to the war-torn country by either Trump or the vice president, and it came as the Trump administration charts a pathway to ending the 16-year war in Afghanistan.
Mike Pence believes in peace with strength
Vice President Pence urged the US soldiers to be strong and courageous in their fight with the jihadists, he praised the new government strategy for Afganistan and stressed that:
“Peace only comes through strength.”
Pence’s trip was focused on Trump’s new strategy to “fight to win” in Afghanistan by attacking enemies, routing al-Qaida and preventing terrorist attacks against Americans. The first-year president has urged the U.S. to shift away from a “time-based” approach to the protracted conflict by linking U.S. assistance to results and cooperation from the Afghan government, Pakistan and other partners.
The White House has described the new Afghanistan plan as a “regional” strategy that aims to cultivate cooperation among other South Asian nations, including the overturning of Pakistan’s harbouring of elements of the Taliban.
