Acting US defense secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived in Afghanistan on Monday, his first after taking over the role.
Addressing reporters travelling with him, Shanahan emphasized on the importance the involvement of Afghan government in peace talks, which has so far been excluded.
“It is important that the Afghan government is involved in discussions regarding Afghanistan,” Shanahan said.
“The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like in the future. It’s not about the US, it is about Afghanistan,” he said.
US diplomats and Taliban representatives have held at least four rounds of talks to end the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan, with the most serious of them happening last month in Qatar.
US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said that the sides agreed to a framework of an agreement that would require Taliban to prevent use of Afghan territory by terrorists and withdrawal of US troops from the country.
US President Donald Trump has also tied troop withdrawals in Afghanistan to progress in peace talks with the Taliban.
Shanahan said that the US has important security interests in the region.
“The US military has strong security interests in the region. (The) presence will evolve out of those discussions,” Shanahan said.
He also said his goal of the visit was to get an understanding of the situation on the ground from commanders and then to brief Trump on his findings.
The official said that he had so far not received any direction to reduce the nearly 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan.
