Defense Chief Visits Afghanistan as Troop Deadline Nears

Violence remains ‘pretty high,’ Defense Secretary Austin says
Power-sharing with Taliban on the table, says Afghan official

Lloyd J. Austin meets with Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on March 21.Photographer: Lisa Ferdinando/U.S. Dept of Defense/Getty Images

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By Peter Martin and Henry Meyer

March 21, 2021 at 11:29 AM UTC

Updated on

March 21, 2021 at 7:29 PM UTC

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan and said the country’s violence remains high as President Joe Biden weighs the future of the U.S. troop presence.

Biden’s under pressure to decide whether to abide by an Afghan peace deal reached during Donald Trump’s final year that seeks to bring home the 2,500 U.S. troops now stationed there by May 1. It’s a deadline -- now just six weeks away -- that Biden has said “could happen” but would be “tough” to meet.