0
Monday 8 March 2021 - 10:03

US Says 'All Options on Table' for Afghanistan, No Decision on Troop Withdrawal by May Deadline

Story Code : 920325
US Says
We have not made any decisions about our force posture in Afghanistan after May 1,” the US State Department said in a statement on Sunday.

The comments came after reports emerged that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made a new push for a United Nations-led peace effort that included a “warning” to the Afghan government that the US military was considering exiting Afghanistan by the set deadline.

In a letter to President Ashraf Ghani, published by TOLO News and reported by the New York Times, Blinken said that President Joe Biden had lost faith in faltering negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban.

Negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban began in September last year as part of a February 2020 agreement between the militants and the administration of former US president Donald Trump in the Qatari capital, Doha.

Under that deal, all foreign troops were expected to leave Afghan soil within 14 months in exchange for a series of commitments by the Taliban, including a reduction in violence.

The Biden administration has said the Taliban have not lived up to their commitments to reduce violence and to cut ties with terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh.

Violence has escalated in Afghanistan over the past year, with persistent Taliban attacks on government forces and a string of targeted assassination of officials, civil servants and journalists.

Blinken said in the letter that the US State Department, along with the UN, aimed to launch high-level talks “to move matters more fundamentally and quickly toward a settlement and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire” in Afghanistan.

Accordingly, the US will ask Turkey to host the meeting of “both sides in the coming weeks to finalize a peace agreement.” Representatives from Russia, Pakistan, Iran, India and others will also be invited to “discuss a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan.”
Comment