US Congressional Delegation Headed By Pelosi Visits Afghanistan - Speaker

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Afghanistan, where she met with President Ashraf Ghani and discussed "security, governance, and economic development," a statement released on the speaker's website said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2019) US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Afghanistan, where she met with President Ashraf Ghani and discussed "security, governance, and economic development," a statement released on the speaker's website said.

Pelosi said that during the visit she met with the country's president and Prime Minister Abdullah Abdullah. The congressional delegation also met with US commanders and diplomats, as well as with military personnel of the Resolute Support Mission, which is conducted by NATO in Afghanistan.

"Today, our bipartisan Congressional delegation completed a visit to Afghanistan focused on security, governance and economic development," Pelosi said as quoted by the statement.

According to the speaker, the delegation was briefed on the situation around the ceasefire with the radical Taliban, as well as on the uncertainty regarding the results of September's presidential election.

Meanwhile, Ghani said that Afghanistan's partnership with the United States "was sustainable and will continue to be sustainable."

"The September 11 tragedy united our countries, and we support the US more in Afghanistan and various ways, especially in the security field. We want to strengthen relations between the two countries,", he said, as cited by his office.

The president added that peace was "a priority" for the Afghan people but this peace should be "led and owned by Afghans."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was also pleased with the achievements of Afghan women and said that one of the US Congress' priorities was the protection of women's rights and achievements in Afghanistan.

"While Afghan women have made some progress in some areas, more work is needed to ensure their security and durable economic and educational opportunities for women and girls in Afghanistan," she added.

The United States and the Taliban have begun attempts to revive peace talks, which US President Donald Trump declared "dead" last month. Trump announced the cancellation of the talks in late September after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack that killed, among others, one US soldier. The initial draft deal proposed to gradually reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 5,000.

The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the 9/11 terror attacks and toppled then-ruling Taliban shortly thereafter. It is the longest war in US history and by some estimates has cost nearly $1 trillion.