Afghan president: ISIS targeting my country

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is targeting Afghanistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told MSNBC on Monday.

Ghani, who is slated to meet with President Obama during a visit to Washington this week, has been pressing the administration to extend the presence of U.S. troops in his country.

{mosads}”Terrorism is changing, it is becoming much more lethal,” he said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” in an interview that aired Monday.

He said his government has “prevented” ISIS from acting, “but there’s sufficient evidence that they were targeting us, because to their narrative, to their storyline, Afghanistan is central.”

Ghani is arguing that the presence of ISIS means the U.S. should slow the drawdown of U.S. forces, which are scheduled to completely leave Afghanistan by the end of next year. 

The White House has said it is reconsidering the timeline.

“President Obama, whom I admire, is a man of deliberation and determination,” Ghani told MSNBC.

“So, we need to examine the situation together, reach a common understanding, and on the basis of that, make decisions on those critical questions.”

He added that Afghans are “determined to put our house in order,” and he doesn’t want to be seen as a charity case that solely relies on the United States for help. He added that, while he’s open to making peace with the Taliban through negotiations, he will not turn his back on the civil rights progress that the country has made since the Taliban was pushed from power.

“A lot of countries have had internal conflicts and the way to the resolution of that ultimately is the negotiating table,” he said.

“But the gains of the last 13 years, particularly the gains for women, have to be preserved.”