Pompeo pays unannounced visit to Kabul amid South Asian tour

KABUL - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo paid an unannounced visit to Kabul on Tuesday on his way to New Delhi, and met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah to discuss the ongoing peace talks with Taliban, according to local media.

Pompeo said that he hopes that Afghanistan will achieve a peace deal ahead of the Presidential Elections scheduled for Sept. 28, local TV station Tolonews has reported.

According to Pompeo, during his talks with Ghani and Abdullah, they have agreed that peace is their top priority and that Afghanistan must never serve as a platform for international terrorism.

US is ready to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, but there is no timeline, Pompeo reaffirmed.

He also expressed the hope that US and Taliban would reach a peace deal before Sept. 1.

Pompeo's visit to Afghanistan, which lasted about seven hours, comes ahead of a seventh round of peace talks between US and Taliban representatives, aiming to find a political settlement to end the war in Afghanistan, which has lasted since 2001.