VOA: US, Afghanistan Urge Taliban to Seek Peace as War Enters 17th Year
QUETTA, PAKISTAN — The United States has formally handed over two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to the Afghan Air Force as part of a plan to increase its capability and sustainability in counter-Taliban operations.
The handover ceremony took place at the airfield in Kandahar as the U.S.-led international military intervention in Afghanistan entered its 17th year Saturday, with no end in sight for the war against an Islamist insurgency.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in accepting the new aircraft, called it a "historic day" and used the occasion to urge the Taliban to end the violence.
Ghani said if the Taliban thinks it can defeat Afghan security forces, it needs to abandon the idea in the wake of the growing strength of Afghanistan's national army and police forces.
"End the war, stop bloodshed. The way forward for you is to negotiate a political solution," the Afghan leader asserted.
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Update #1: Ghani asks Taliban to carefully opt between peace and violence (Khaama Press)
Update #2: The US war in Afghanistan started on this day 16 years ago (Washington Examiner)
WNU Editor: After 17 years of war peace talks with the Taliban have gotten nowhere. This is going to be a long war, a fact that the Taliban are making very clear in their public announcements .... Taliban says is not tired of war in Afghanistan (Outlook India/ANI).
