WASHINGTON - The US Defense Secretary Gen (rtd) Jim Mattis and the President Ashraf Ghani during a meeting last week in Munich discussed ongoing reforms in the Afghan national security forces and agreed that there is still work to be done, the Pentagon said Monday.
“They discussed the status of reforms in the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, and they both noted there is still work to be done, including anti-corruption efforts,”        Pentagon Spokesperson Cmdr. Sarah Higgins said in a statement.
Mattis and Ghani discussed the two countries' commitment to the safety and security of Afghanistan.
Mattis, who was scheduled to make his maiden trip to Afghanistan had to cancel his trip due to bad weather, also had video conference with Gen Nicholson, Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
“My point in talking to President Ghani and talking to our field commander, the NATO field commander, is to gain their political and military appreciation to the situation.  We're putting our thoughts together now,” he told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
The US President Donald Trump, he said, was waiting for my assessment on Afghanistan, and the assessment from the intelligence community.  “He is open to my advice on it.  But first of all I've got to formulate where I stand, and so this is the normal collection of the information, and to assess what the other countries in the region are doing in Afghanistan to help or hinder us in our efforts there,” he said.
Observing that the assessment should not take too long, he said last year was pretty disastrous for the Taliban. “They lost their leader.  They took no provincial capitals.  That's a pretty low bar,” he said. 
“Actually, considering that this is an organization that knows they cannot win at the ballot box, and they're using bombs and guns on purpose, they were unsuccessful in gaining their tactical objectives,” he added. 
“So I think it was a lot more damaging to the Taliban, and the Afghan Security Forces paid a very heavy price to keep the Taliban on their back foot, but they paid it, they've held, and the Taliban is in a worst position today, even though I do not equate that to success on our side,” the Defense Secretary said. (Pajhwok)