Pentagon chief makes unannounced visit to AfghanistanJuly 12, 2016 - 13:47 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 12 for talks with President Ashraf Ghani, days after the United States and NATO pledged to keep thousands of troops in the troubled country, AFP reports. Carter flew in to Bagram air base outside Kabul, and was due to meet with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in the capital later. The Pentagon chief's visit follows a renewed commitment to Afghanistan from NATO, which said over the weekend it would keep forces there at least until the end of 2017. Most are American, but some 40 countries have deployed troops there. Their official role is to train Afghan forces, who are now responsible for their country's security, AFP says. Despite a massive, nearly 15-year international effort to defeat the Taliban, the resurgent group controls large areas of Afghanistan and have vowed to keep fighting until foreign forces leave. President Barack Obama, elected eight years ago on a pledge to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been unable to do so given the fragile security situations in both countries. Last week he dialed back plans to cut US troop numbers in Afghanistan from 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of the year. Instead, some 8,400 U.S. troops will remain, providing training and air support to the Afghans. Obama has also relaxed rules of engagement, making it easier for US troops to target the Taliban -- a move that the head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said was in "recognition of the difficulties that we are facing". Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |