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US-AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT
US envoy in Kabul as questions over troop withdrawal swirl
KABUL, March 1, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – The US special envoy to Afghanistan
touched down in Kabul on Monday for meetings with local officials, in a bid
to revive a flagging peace process as violence soars in the war-weary country
and a deadline for US troop withdrawal draws closer.
Zalmay Khalilzad’s arrival marks the first time he has returned to
Afghanistan since US President Joe Biden took office in January and asked him
to stay in his post.
Speculation is rife over the US’ future in Afghanistan, after the White
House announced plans to review a withdrawal deal brokered by Khalilzad and
the Taliban in Doha last year.
Under that agreement, the US is set to withdraw from Afghanistan in May,
but a surge in fighting has sparked concerns that a speedy exit from the
country may unleash greater chaos as peace talks between the Kabul government
and Taliban continue to stall.
In Kabul, Khalilzad met with Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s
High Council for National Reconciliation that is overseeing Kabul’s peace
talks with the insurgents in Qatar.
The two sides “discussed the talks in Doha and the review of US-Taliban
deal by the US administration, ending the war in Afghanistan and ways to find
political settlement through talks in Afghanistan,” a spokesman for
Abdullah’s office said.
The envoy is also set to travel to Qatar, where he will meet with Taliban
leaders along with trips to unspecified regional capitals, according to the
State Department.
Khalilzad, an Afghan-born political scientist, is a veteran of Republican
administrations who has served as US ambassador to the United Nations, Iraq
and Afghanistan.
Donald Trump’s administration, eager to end America’s longest war, tasked
Khalilzad with negotiating with the Taliban, culminating in a deal signed in
Qatar on February 29 last year.
The accord states that the United States will withdraw all troops from
Afghanistan by May, with the Taliban promising not to allow territory to be
used by terrorists — the original goal of the US invasion following the
September 11, 2001 attacks.
BSS/AFP/RY/1618hrs