KABUL — US Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Afghanistan Friday for meetings with military commanders, as the security situation deteriorates with a surge in Taliban attacks and the creeping emergence of the Islamic State group.
The unannounced visit comes just days after a Pentagon report presented a grim portrait of the war that has inflicted a growing number of casualties on hard-pressed Afghan forces.
"(Carter) has landed" in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a brief statement that offered no details on the purpose of his visit.
Two Afghan security officials told AFP that Carter was set to meet Afghan military commanders and American troops at a US base near Jalalabad city in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
The volatile province faces an emerging threat from loyalists of the Islamic State group, which is making gradual inroads in Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban on their own turf.
The two officials said Afghanistan's acting defence minister Masoom Stanekzai accompanied Carter on his surprise visit to Nangarhar, which comes after a brief stopover in Iraq.
This month marks a year since the US- and NATO-led mission in Afghanistan transitioned into an Afghan-led operation, with allied nations assisting in training local forces.
President Barack Obama in October announced that thousands of US troops will remain in Afghanistan past 2016, backpedaling on previous plans to shrink the force and acknowledging that Afghan forces are not ready to stand alone.
The Taliban briefly captured the strategic northern city of Kunduz in September in their most spectacular victory in 14 years, dealing a stinging blow to Afghan forces as they battle the insurgents on multiple fronts.
The Taliban have since then threatened several other provincial centers — from Lashkar Gah in the south to Maimana in the northwest — raising concerns that Afghanistan was on the brink of a security collapse.
Fueling those fears is a new Pentagon report released this week detailing a surge in Taliban attacks in the second half of 2015.
Obama said the United States will maintain its current force of 9,800 in the country through 2016.
After that the United States will leave a force of 5,500 troops in place to train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism missions.
Obama's decision recognized Afghan forces "will require more time and assistance to develop into a capable, credible and independent force", the Pentagon report stated.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets despite President Ashraf Ghani's diplomatic outreach to Pakistan aimed at reviving peace talks with the resurgent group.
Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the Taliban, hosted a milestone first round of peace negotiations in July.
But the talks stalled when the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar, sparking a power struggle within the movement.
Western officials have also warned that the Islamic State group, attracting disaffected Taliban fighters, is an emerging threat in Afghanistan's eastern badlands bordering Pakistan.
