KABUL – The US special envoy to Afghanistan touched down in Kabul on Mondayfor meetings with Afghan leaders, in a bid to revive a flagging peaceprocess as violence soars in the war-weary country and a deadline for UStroop withdrawal draws closer.
Zalmay Khalilzad’s arrival marks the first time he has returned toAfghanistan since US President Joe Biden took office in January and askedhim to stay in his post. Speculation is rife over America’s future inAfghanistan, after the White House announced plans to review a withdrawaldeal 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 thecountry may unleash greater chaos as peace talks between the Kabulgovernment and Taliban continue to stall. In Kabul, Khalilzad met with bothAfghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who serves as chairmanof Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, which isoverseeing Kabul’s peace talks with the insurgents in Qatar.
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“Both sides discussed future steps in the Afghan peace process andunderscored additional efforts to expedite the peace process,” apresidential spokeswoman said in a statement.
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The envoy is also set to travel to Qatar, where he will meet with Talibanleaders along with trips to unspecified regional capitals, according to theState Department. Khalilzad, an Afghan-born political scientist, is aveteran of Republican administrations who has served as US ambassador tothe United Nations, Iraq and Afghanistan. Donald Trump’s administration,eager to end America’s longest war, tasked Khalilzad with negotiating withthe Taliban, culminating in a deal signed in Qatar on February 29 last year.
The accord states that the US will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan byMay, with the Taliban promising not to allow territory to be used byterrorists — the original goal of the US invasion following the September11, 2001 attacks.
