KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid an unexpected visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a suspicious public about President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all American troops of the country and put an end to America’s longest war.
Blinken tried to assure senior Afghan politicians that the United States remains committed to the country despite Biden’s announcement a day before the remaining 2,500 U.S. soldiers would return home. on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that led to the US invasion in 2001.
“I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the continued commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan,” Blinken told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani when they met at the presidential palace in Kabul. “The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring.”
“We respect the decision and set our priorities,” Ghani told Blinken, expressing his gratitude for the sacrifices of American troops.
Later, in a meeting with Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the National Reconciliation Council, Blinken repeated his message saying that “we have a new chapter, but it is a new chapter that we are writing together.”
“We are grateful to your people, to your country, to your administration,” Abdullah said.
NATO immediately followed Biden’s leadership on Wednesday, saying its approximately 7,000 non-US forces in Afghanistan would leave in a few months, ending the foreign military presence that had been a fact of life for a generation of Afghans who had been in conflict for more than 40 years.
Blinken arrived in the Afghan capital from Brussels, where he and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin briefed NATO officials on the US decision and secured rapid Allied approval to end their resolute support mission to Afghanistan.
Biden, Blinken and Austin have tried to put a brave face on the withdrawal, maintaining that US-led NATO missions in Afghanistan had achieved their goal of decimating Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. launch the 9/11 attacks and clean up the country of terrorist elements who could use Afghan soil to plan similar strikes.
However, this argument has been challenged by some U.S. lawmakers and human rights defenders, who say the withdrawal will lead to the loss of freedoms enjoyed by Afghans after the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001.
“My views are very pessimistic,” MP Naheed Farid told reporters when asked about the future of his country. Farid was one of half a dozen, mostly women, civic leaders who met with Blinken at the U.S. embassy in Kabul. She did not elaborate.
Despite billions of US dollars in aid, 20 years after the invasion, more than half of Afghanistan’s 36 million people live on less than $ 1.90 a day, according to World Bank data. Afghanistan is also considered one of the worst countries in the world in terms of women’s rights and well-being, according to the Georgetown Institute for Women’s Peace and Security.
For many Afghans, the past two decades have been disappointing, as corruption has overtaken successive governments and powerful warlords have amassed wealth and loyal militias that are well armed. Many Afghans fear the chaos will get even worse once America leaves.
Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are at a standstill, but are expected to resume later this month in Istanbul.
Under an agreement signed last year between the Trump administration and the Taliban, the United States should have ended its military withdrawal on May 1. While Biden is opening that deadline, angering the Taliban leadership, his plan calls for the withdrawal to begin on May 1. The NATO withdrawal will begin on the same day.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed warned on Wednesday that “problems will be exacerbated” if the United States misses the May 1 withdrawal deadline. The insurgent movement has yet to respond to Biden’s surprise announcement that the withdrawal would only begin on that date.
“It’s time to end America’s longest war,” Biden said in his announcement in Washington on Tuesday, but added that the United States “will not rush to the exit.”
Biden, along with Blinken and Austin in Brussels, promised that the United States would remain committed to the people and development of Afghanistan.
“Bringing our troops home doesn’t mean ending our relationship with Afghanistan or our support for the country,” Blinken said. “Our support, our commitment and our determination remain.”
Austin said the U.S. military, after withdrawing from Afghanistan, will maintain anti-terrorist “capabilities” in the region to keep up pressure on extremist groups operating in Afghanistan. When asked for details, he declined to delve into where these American forces would be positioned or in what figures.
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Associated Press editor Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this report.