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Esper Makes Unannounced Visit to Afghanistan


Caption U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, center, arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct. 20, 2019.
Caption U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, center, arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct. 20, 2019.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan amid efforts to restart peace talks with the Taliban.

"The aim is to still get a peace agreement at some point, a political agreement, that is the best way forward," Esper told reporters traveling with him Sunday.

Last month, President Donald Trump abruptly called off yearlong U.S.-Taliban talks just when the two adversaries had come close to signing a peace agreement that could have ended the 18-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest overseas military intervention.

Trump declared the peace process process “dead," citing continued insurgent deadly attacks on Afghan civilians and American troops in Afghanistan.

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