US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spoken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the phone, apparently to reassure him that US strategy hadn't changed after President Donald Trump's recent remarks about the war in Afghanistan raised concerns in Kabul. "I could win that war in a week. I just don't want to kill 10 million people," Trump said during a visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to the White House on Monday, adding that the country "would be wiped off the face of the Earth."
In a readout of the call, the State Department said Pompeo assured Ghani "that there has been no change to President Trump's South Asia strategy, including US commitment to a conditions-based drawdown." During the call, the sides agreed that "now is the time to accelerate efforts to reach a negotiated end to the war in Afghanistan."