NEW YORK – Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burnssecretly held a meeting with Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder and deputyleader of the Taliban movement, in Kabul on Monday, it emerged on Tuesday.
The Washington Post in a report citing sources said that both held meetingin the Afghan capital as the Biden Administration has paced up its effortsto evacuate US citizens and other allies from Kabul.
The meeting, if confirmed, is the highest level diplomatic contact betweenthe US and the group since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’scapital last week, making sweeping advances amid withdrawal of foreignforces.
Representatives for the CIA and the White House did not immediately issueany statement in this regard.
The US-based media oulet, which cited anonymous US sources for the meeting,did not share details about the content of the discussions between theTaliban co-founder and the CIA boss.
But it said it was likely the talks revolved around any delay in thedeadline for the US to complete evacuations at the Kabul airport, wherethousands of Afghans are scrambling to flee the country due to the terrorof the Taliban.
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Biden has set an August 31 deadline to finish the evacuation beingorganised by thousands of temporarily deployed US and UK troops amidreports of extension in the deadline.
Meanwhile Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen warned Monday the group wouldnot grant any extension, adding that there will be consequences if thedeadline is extended.
“If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — theanswer is no. Or there would be consequences,” Suhail Shaheen told Sky News.
