John Kerry makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan

New Post: Ziad Haider, "Could Pakistan bridge the U.S.-China divide?" (AfPak). Surprise! On a brief, unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry held a cheerful joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul just hours after the United States transferred all but a "small number" of the detainees at ...

JASON REED/AFP/Getty Images
JASON REED/AFP/Getty Images
JASON REED/AFP/Getty Images

New Post: Ziad Haider, "Could Pakistan bridge the U.S.-China divide?" (AfPak).

New Post: Ziad Haider, "Could Pakistan bridge the U.S.-China divide?" (AfPak).

Surprise!

On a brief, unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry held a cheerful joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul just hours after the United States transferred all but a "small number" of the detainees at Bagram Prison to Afghan custody (NYT, Reuters, AP, LAT, Guardian, Post, NPR). Their remarks stood in stark contrast to the tense negotiations that replaced a cancelled joint press conference during a visit by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel earlier this month. The successful negotiation of an agreement on Bagram prison represents "a shift that’s going on in how the U.S. is looking at what’s important. We have to look at the big picture: What’s the U.S. strategic interest here?" said one U.S. official familiar with the issue.

Secretary Kerry also met with several Afghan women entrepreneurs at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, including the founder and captain of Afghanistan’s women’s soccer team, and the founder of a trucking and catering conglomerate (Post). The women told Kerry about the progress women have made since the fall of the Taliban, but expressed their concerns about security and the future of their country.

Eight suicide bombers attacked the Jalalabad Police Quick Reaction Forces on Tuesday, killing five officers and wounding four others (AP, CNN). The first bomber detonated a vehicle packed with bombs outside the headquarters, after which the other seven attacked the facility, with three managing to set off their explosives and the other four being shot by police officers. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.

Modicum of intolerance

Local clerics in the Kasur District of Punjab Province allegedly attacked and tortured an Ahmadi family on Tuesday after threatening violence if the family members did not convert to Sunni Islam (ET). And a female schoolteacher was shot and killed in Khyber Agency on Tuesday (ET, AFP).

Secretary John Kerry will not be visiting Pakistan during this trip to the region, but he did meet Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in Amman, Jordan for dinner on Sunday, where they discussed the reconciliation process in Afghanistan and security issues throughout South Asia (Dawn).

Caught red-handed

Investigations into the office of the Punjab Accountant General have discovered that the office made unauthorized payments in the amount of 1.39 billion rupees, much of it to "ghost employees" during the 2011-12 fiscal year (ET). At least 624 employees were able to receive double salaries through the use of fraudulent identification numbers.

— Jennifer Rowland

Jennifer Rowland is a research associate in the National Security Studies Program at the New America Foundation.

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.