Donald Trump: South Asia strategy working

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that his South Asia strategy announced in August is "working rapidly".

In a joint media appearance at the White House with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Trump said, "Our strategic partnership with Kazakhstan has advanced my South Asia strategy, which is working and working far more rapidly than anybody would understand."He thanked the Kazakh president for providing crucial support to US forces in Afghanistan and denying safe havens to terrorists.

"Kazakhstan is a valued partner in our efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons," he said.

"This cooperation has grown even stronger this month during Kazakhstan's presidency of the United Nations Security Council," he said.

Kazakhastan, a non-permanent member, holds the rotating presidency on the UN Security Council.

Trump thanked Nazarbayev for his full support for his South Asia strategy including his efforts in Afghanistan.I greatly appreciate the president's personal assurances that Kazakhstan will continue to provide critical logistical support and access for our troops fighting ISIS and the Taliban where we have made tremendous strides," he said.

"We also appreciate Kazakhstan's work to train and educate Afghan civilian specialists and I am grateful for the president's pledge of additional support to bolster Afghan security," Trump said.

Nazarbayev is the first Central Asian leader to visit the White House. The two had earlier met in Riyadh and have spoken over phone.

"While the American troops are in Afghanistan, I think it's the mission of the whole world to make sure that Afghanistan is stabilised and it also a mission for us as a neighbouring country to see that peace prevails in Afghanistan," said the Kazakh president.

So far Kazakhastan has provided humanitarian technical support to Afghanistan to the tune of $75 million.It has also spent $50 million training Afghan to some civilian professions that they cannot get trained in Afghanistan.

In August, while unveiling his new South Asia strategy, Trump had accused Pakistan of giving "safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror," and said the time had come "for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilisation, order, and to peace".

Trump had also sought a major role for India in bringing peace in Afghanistan and ruled out a hasty withdrawal of troops from the war-torn nation while announcing his new Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August.

The US has suspended about $2 billion in security aid to Pakistan over it failure to crack down on militants.