《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 New Pentagon chief Ash Carter visits Afghanistan

DRAWDOWN: The defense secretary was expected to meet with the Afghan president and discuss US troop withdrawal plans and development of Afghan forces

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter made his international debut yesterday with a visit to Afghanistan to see US troops and commanders, meet with Afghan leaders and assess whether US withdrawal plans were too risky to Afghan security.

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“We’re looking for success in Afghanistan that is lasting,” Carter told reporters traveling with him on his first trip since being sworn in as Pentagon chief on Tuesday.

Carter, an experienced defense strategist, revealed little about his thinking on current trends and future prospects for Afghanistan, saying he was using his trip to gather information that would enable him to formulate advice for US President Barack Obama.

Consulting is his way of “getting my own thinking together,” he said.

Carter is Obama’s fourth Pentagon chief. He served as the Pentagon’s No. 2 official earlier in Obama’s tenure and is seen as a technocrat largely untested on the international stage.

Afghanistan’s security forces have improved greatly, but the country is still struggling with a resilient insurgency 13 years after US troops invaded and toppled the Taliban regime. Many Afghans worry that Obama is risking an Iraq-like relapse in security by cutting US troop totals in half this year, from the current 10,000, and ending the military mission entirely at the end of next year.

In an in-flight interview, Carter said he expected to discuss the troop withdrawal plan with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and get his assessment of how the US military can best support the continued development of Afghan forces.

“That’s what I’m here to find out,” he said. “How do things stand now, and what’s the best path forward.”

US forces ended their main combat mission in December last year, but have remained in smaller numbers to continue training and advising the Afghans and to conduct counterterrorism strikes against extremist groups.

Carter said he also expected to hear Ghani’s views on prospects for peace talks with the Taliban.

Carter said he chose Afghanistan as his first overseas destination “because this is where we still have 10,000 American troops and they come first in my mind, always.”

He said he would meet with General John Campbell, the top US commander in Afghanistan, as well as General Lloyd Austin, the head of Central Command who has overall responsibility for US military operations in the greater Middle East.

Campbell recently presented Obama with options that include slowing this year’s troop drawdown and potentially keeping a key US training site open longer than scheduled, without abandoning Obama’s plan to have essentially all US troops out of the country before he leaves office in January 2017.

Carter indicated no strong concern about reports of extremists in Afghanistan taking up the cause of the Islamic State group that has risen to prominence in Iraq and Syria. He said this appears to be a case of extremists “rebranding” themselves.

“The reports I’ve seen still have them in small numbers,” he said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES