Trump says South Asia strategy working

WASHINGTON: (Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2018) 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.