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            Kerry in Afghanistan to Support Kabul's Unity Government

   by Pamela Dockins

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Afghanistan on a previously
   unannounced visit signaling continuing U.S. support for the country's
   national unity government.

   Kerry arrived in the Afghan capital one day after he made a brief
   unannounced visit to Baghdad to meet government leaders and assure them
   of staunch U.S. support.

   The top U.S. diplomat last visited Afghanistan in August 2014.

   The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard
   Olson, noted that the United States remains committed to supporting the
   national unity government in Kabul, which is more than 18 months into
   its five-year term.

   The United States helped broker the deal that produced Afghanistan's
   unity government, a power-sharing arrangement between President Ashraf
   Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah that was agreed after the
   disputed results of the country's election two years ago.

   National unity has been an elusive goal, however, and Afghanistan's
   people appear to be deeply dissatisfied with their government.

   An extensive public-opinion survey released last month by the U.S.
   Broadcasting Board of Governors (the Voice of America's parent agency)
   and the Gallup organization showed that 80 percent of all respondents
   were either somewhat or very dissatisfied with the Ghani-Abdullah
   government.

   Much of the public dissatisfaction is related to Kabul's stalled
   efforts to begin peace talks with the Taliban, amid frequent violent
   incidents around the country.

   Clearing the way for resumption of peace talks will be a focal point of
   Kerry's diplomatic efforts while he is in Afghanistan. The so-called
   Quadrilateral Coordination Group trying to get peace talks moving - the
   United States, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China - tried to arrange a
   meeting with Taliban representatives in March, but the insurgents
   refused to take part.

   "There have been challenges" to that diplomatic effort, Olson said,
   "both in terms of politics, but also in terms of the resilience ... of
   the Taliban."

   Some analysts doubt the talks will occur at all.

   "There is no peace process," said Matthew Chris Mason, a national
   security affairs professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, part of
   the U.S. Army War College.

   "The Taliban has said emphatically they are going to have no part of
   it," Mason said via SKYPE.

   Kerry's trip to Kabul comes at a time of extensive U.S.-Afghan
   engagement. In March, President Barack Obama had a video conference
   with Ghani and Abdullah in Kabul.

   Both Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden met with the Afghan president
   on the sidelines of a conference in Switzerland in January, and Kerry
   met again with Ghani in Germany in March.

   Kerry's trip to Afghanistan was part of a week-long trip to the Middle
   East and Asia. His next stop is in Japan, where he will attend a G-7
   ministerial meeting and visit a World War II memorial.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-afghanistan/3277541.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-afghanistan/3277541.html