US warns Afghan president to kickstart peace talks or face ‘rapid Taliban gains’

America has warned the Afghan president that his country could face a Taliban onslaught this spring without US troops unless he considers proposals to jump-start stalled peace talks.

A full withdrawal of American forces is still being considered despite Afghan hopes that President Joe Biden might halt the move, according to a leaked letter from the US secretary of state.

In what appeared to be a blunt attempt to pressure Ashraf Ghani, Antony Blinken wrote that without US troops he was concerned “the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains”.

He called on Mr Ghani to show “urgent leadership” and said he hoped the Afghan president would “understand the urgency of my tone”.

The veiled threat came amid US frustration that the year-long Doha peace talks have gone nowhere, while a deadline to withdraw US troops is approaching.

Mr Biden is reviewing whether to pull out all troops by May 1, as agreed in Donald Trump’s withdrawal pact with the Taliban, or to extend the deployment to give peace talks more time. Washington believes the Taliban have not kept their word by failing to cut violence and remaining close to al-Qa’ida. But it has also become frustrated at intransigence in Kabul.

Michael Kugelman, deputy Asia director at the US-based Wilson Centre think-tank, said: “In a sceptical reading of the letter, the US is reading Ghani the riot act: ‘Help us do these things now, because we may be leaving in just a few weeks.’” In a more optimistic analysis, it was saying “This won’t be easy – you’ll need to make sacrifices - but let’s get it done before it’s too late”, he said.

Afghanistan is braced for the start of the annual Taliban spring offensive as morale has plummeted among government forces.

US troop numbers have fallen from 14,000 a year ago to around 2,500, denying the Afghans air strikes and surveillance drones. Troops have struggled to push back Taliban offensives and roads between major cities are increasingly under attack.

According to the letter, the US is pursuing high-level diplomatic efforts “to move matters more fundamentally and quickly toward a settlement and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire”.

A UN-backed conference in Turkey will be held within weeks to endorse an interim government featuring the Taliban. Mr Ghani’s vice-president, Amrullah Saleh, said yesterday that Afghanistan would “never accept a coerced and imposed peace”.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]