Afghan President Ghani, at an equivalent time, sought to project confidence within the face of resurgent Taliban. He dismissed a US intelligence report that has forecast the autumn of Kabul within six months of the departure of the last folks troops, scheduled for as early as July, saying much such dire prediction “turned out false” within the past.
Biden and Ghani, who was amid Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation met at the White House amidst growing concerns about the fate of the present government, with continued escalation of violence by the Taliban, who have backed out of peace talks till the departure folks troops.
The Biden administration has acknowledged worrying by the violence but has shown no sign yet it'd hamper the pace of withdrawal of troops or call it off. within the bluntest remarks on the difficulty yet, secretary of state Antony Blinken said in Paris on Thursday that the US is assessing things on the bottom in Afghanistan and “whether the Taliban is, at all, serious a few peaceful resolution of the conflict”.
But Biden gave no indication of a shift. “Our troops could also be leaving but our support for Afghanistan isn't ending in terms of support and maintenance of helping maintain their military also as economic and political support,” President Biden said, seeking to assure the Afghan leaders.
But, he added, “Afghans are getting to need to decide their future, what they need , what they want”.
Ghani welcomed Biden’s decision as “historic” but did signal unease saying, “It has made everybody recalculate and reconsider.”
President Biden, who had run White House one the promise, among others, of ending never-ending wars, did take the planet all of sudden when he announced that each one US troops are going to be out of Afghanistan by 9/11 , the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that took US-led international forced to Afghanistan in search of al-Qaeda.
The last folks troops are now expected to be out of the county as soon as July, way before the schedule. And, there's growing concern that the Taliban are moving rapidly to require the country militarily and not through peaceful negotiations as envisaged under the deal they signed with the Trump administration in February 2020, which is backed by the Biden administration.
“We are getting into a replacement chapter of our relationship where the partnership with the us wouldn't be military, but comprehensive, regarding our mutual interest,” Ghani said. “And we’re very encouraged and satisfied that this partnership is happening .”
Ghani and Abdullah had a series of meetings starting with top Biden administration officials like defence secretary Lloyd Austin, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, CIA director William Burns and a number of other lawmakers.
Ghani was asked about the US intelligence report forecasting the autumn of Kabul in six to 12 months during his visit to the Pentagon to satisfy Austin. “There are many such predictions, and they’ve all clothed false,” he said.
Husain Haqqani, former Pakistan ambassador to the US and senior fellow at Hudson Institute, says each side gained from the Friday meetings. Biden “wanted to signal that US military withdrawal isn't abandonment of Afghanistan” and Ghani and Abdullah “wanted to point out that Afghans are united against the Taliban and may defend their country with US economic support and military equipment. Both achieved their goal”.
But, Haqqani warned of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, which he described as like what happened in Iraq in 2011, after sudden withdrawal folks troops. Arming regional militias, CIA covert ops, and support for Iraqi forces changed things around and therefore the same is feasible in Afghanistan, he said, adding, “The Biden administration must recognise that the Taliban aren't the partners in peace they were made bent be which it's delusional to think that they're going to break from al-Qaeda.”
