Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken makes surprise visit to Kabul as US bids to reassure wary Afghans over withdrawal of troops

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced stop in Afghanistan yesterday for meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who is heading up negotiations with the Taliban.

His aim was to reassure them that Washington’s support for the war-torn country will continue despite the decision to withdraw all military forces by September 11.

Mr Blinken’s trip follows a speech on Wednesday by President Joe Biden promising to end a conflict that has bedevilled his predecessors for the last two decades.

Mr Ghani and his advisers met Mr Blinken and his aides at Kabul’s ornate presidential palace. At the top of the meeting, Mr Ghani told Mr Blinken “We respect [President Biden’s] decision and are adjusting our priorities.”

Mr Blinken said he “wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan.”

Looming behind every discussion in Afghanistan is the spectre of a possible Taliban takeover of Kabul following the US departure.

For years, the US tried and failed to apply military and political pressure in Afghanistan in hopes of convincing the Taliban to forge a resolution with the US-backed Afghan government.

With few options left, US officials hope a decisive withdrawal may jump-start a peace process rather than push the country further into violence.

“No matter how you slice it, the withdrawal announcement will be hard for many Afghans to accept. There’s no way to sugarcoat a policy decision that’s quite likely to worsen instability in a country that has been at war for 40 years,” said Michael Kugelman, an Afghan scholar at the Wilson Centre.

“US officials’ best bet is to assure Kabul and the Afghan people that a military withdrawal does not equate to a total abandonment,” he added. 

Ahead of the meeting, the State Department official acknowledged that the civil society leaders “will be apprehensive about what will change” as US and NATO forces exit the country.

 “Already they’re in a challenging position,” said the official, “There’s a war going on right now. There have been targeted killings in the past month or so. Some of [the killings] done by the Taliban, some of them by done by the [Islamic State].”

In remarks at NATO headquarters, Nr Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will continue to pay the salaries for Afghan Security Forces, help them maintain counterterrorism capabilities, and provide significant humanitarian and economic assistance. 

© The Washington Post

Online Editors