Final decision on US troops would be made by Obama and Ghani: Carter

KABUL - Emphasizing on his previous intentions before to be elected as the new Pentagon chief, Ashton B. Carter stressed the need for serious dialogues with the Afghan leadership on review of troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Sworn in just four days ago as President Barack Obama's fourth defense secretary, Carter arrived in Kabul on Sunday in a two-day visit to meet Afghan officials and the American troops and asses their presence in the country.

Saying that Afghanistan's gains were the top priorities of the United States, Carter told a joint press conference with President Ashraf Ghani that the final decision regarding the withdrawal of American troops would be made by Obama and Ghani possibly next month in Washington.

"Our priority now is to make sure this progress stick, that's why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of US troops," Carter said.

In addition, Carter noted that he saw a significant progress in Afghanistan since his last visit of the country as Pentagon No 2 official.

Meanwhile, Ghani said terrorism was a threat to both the countries, urging on joint efforts to curb the phenomenon.

"We respect President Obama's framework for their troops' presence in Afghanistan," Ghani said.

Touching on the peace process following his accelerated efforts over the past week, Ghani said the country was now in the right track to achieve peace. However, he refrained from giving details of the efforts, calling it premature.

"Grounds for peace have never been better in the last 36 years," Ghani said. "The direction is positive but we can't make premature announcements."

It comes a day after the sources close to the government told TOLOnews that the Taliban had shown a green signal to enter into, possibly unconditional, peace talks with the Afghan government.

Following his accelerated peace efforts, Ghani met with the High Peace Council (HPC) members, religious leaders and civil society groups on Friday to consult on peace parleys. (Tolonews)