Afghan President signs decree for implementing strategic deal with US

Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has signed the decree for the implementation of the Compact regarding the bilateral cooperation between Kabul and Washington.

The Office of the President said that the decree was signed during the meeting of Bilateral Compact Executive Committee, known as Compact. It was attended by Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, ministers and high-level officials from both countries, including the U.S. Embassy Charge d'Affaires Ambassador Hugo Llorens and Resolute Support and U.S. Forces Afghanistan Commander General Nicholson, Khaama Press reported.

"The Compact is an Afghan-led initiative to demonstrate the government's commitment to creating a peaceful, stable, and prosperous society and is an important factor upon which the U.S. relied when developing key components of the US South Asia Policy, launched by President Donald Trump on August 21," the palace said in a statement.

The statement further said, "Today, President Ghani convened the Afghan - U.S. Bilateral Compact Executive Committee to receive updates from the Compact's four working groups."

Afghan and the U.S. working group highlighted the completion of the Compact's four matrices focusing on Governance, Economics, Peace and Reconciliation, and Security, noting that a total of more than 200 benchmarks have been established by the Government of Afghanistan, building on Afghanistan's obligations under the 2012 U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement,the Office of the President, ARG Palace said in a statement.

"Under the Compact, Afghanistan has adopted benchmarks tied to global standards promulgated by the World Bank and other leading governance institutions. The working groups also outlined plans to monitor Afghanistan's progress on the Compact's benchmarks, including the time frame for each working group's next meeting," the statement added.