Mattis arrives in Afghanistan as rockets hit Kabul airport
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US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited Kabul on Wednesday to pledge support for the government of President Ashraf Ghani, with the precarious security in the Afghan capital underlined by a rocket attack on the airport hours after he touched down.
Arriving from India, where he sought support for the US administration's new South Asia security plan, Mattis said the United States was determined not to allow "a merciless enemy to kill its way to power".
Promising a more "holistic" approach without fixed timetables and involving other countries in the region, including Pakistan, he said the Taliban would have to learn they could not defeat the government.
"I want to reinforce to the Taliban that the only path to peace and political legitimacy for them is through a negotiated settlement," Mattis told a joint news conference with Ghani and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
