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Groton Daily Independent
Tuesday, March 13, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 242 ~ 18 of 46
Nepal’s government has ordered an investigation into the crash. However, Mohammed Kamrul Islam, a spokesman for US-Bangla Airlines, said the governments of both Nepal and Bangladesh need to “launch a fair investigation and nd the reason behind the accident.”
According to the airline, the plane was carrying 32 passengers from Bangladesh, 33 from Nepal and one each from China and the Maldives. It did not provide the nationalities of the four crew members.
US-Bangla operates Boeing 737-800 and smaller Bombardier Dash 8 planes, including the Q400, the model that crashed.
The airline is based in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, and ies domestically and internationally. The parent company, part of US-Bangla Group, is also involved in real estate, education and agriculture.
Kathmandu’s airport has been the site of several deadly crashes. In September 2012, a Sita Air turboprop plane carrying trekkers to Mount Everest hit a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 19 people on board.
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Associated Press journalists Niranjan Shrestha and Upendra Mansingh in Kathmandu and Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.
US Defense Secretary Mattis arrives in Afghan capital By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday he believes victory in Af- ghanistan is still possible — not necessarily on the battle eld but in facilitating a Taliban reconciliation with the Afghan government.
Mattis spoke shortly before arriving in Kabul, where security concerns were so high that reporters travel- ing with him were not allowed to publish stories until his party had moved from the Kabul airport to the U.S.-led military coalition’s headquarters. That was the rst such restriction on coverage of a Pentagon chief’s visit in memory.
Mattis said he would be meeting with President Ashraf Ghani and top U.S. commanders.
“We do look toward a victory in Afghanistan,” he said, adding, “Not a military victory — the victory will be a political reconciliation” with the Taliban, which has achieved a stalemate in recent years and shown little interest in conceding to the Kabul government.
Mattis, a retired Marine general who commanded U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan in the opening weeks of the war in 2001, said getting the Taliban to reconcile en masse may be “a bridge too far.” So the emphasis is on drawing in Taliban elements piecemeal.
He described this approach as an effort to “start peeling off those who are tired of ghting,” after more than 16 years of war.
“We know there is interest on the Taliban side,” he said.
He de ned victory in Afghanistan as a political settlement between the Taliban and the government, and an Afghan military that is capable of securing the country largely on its own. At that point, he said, Afghanistan would not be “a haven for attacks internationally” as it was when al-Qaida used the country as a launching pad for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Ghani opened his meeting with Mattis at the Presidential Palace by expressing appreciation for the U.S. military’s sacri ces over the years, and offering praise for the new war strategy approved by U.S. President Donald Trump last August.
Ghani called the new U.S. approach a “game changer.”
“It has forced every actor to re-examine their assumptions,” he said, adding that in the short run this could intensify the con ict. On the positive side, he said, it enables his government to make an uncondi- tional peace offer to the Taliban without it looking like a surrender. He said it also allowed his government to approach Pakistan with an offer of a “comprehensive dialogue.”
U.S. intelligence of cials are predicting the war will remain stalemated as the traditionally most intensive ghting season begins this spring.