‘CIA boss, Taliban chief held top-secret meeting’
Meeting in Kabul on Monday between William Burns and Mullah Baradar was the highest level encounter between the two sides so far
WASHINGTON/BEIJING: US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief William Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The Monday meeting, which if confirmed will have been the highest-level encounter between the Islamist group and the Biden administration since the militants’ return to power, came as efforts to evacuate thousands of people from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan became increasingly urgent.
Burns is one of US President Joe Biden’s most experienced diplomats; while Baradar, who headed the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, is one of the top leaders in the regime that has taken power in Kabul. A spokesperson for the CIA would not confirm the meeting to AFP, saying that the agency “never discusses the director’s travels”.
The Washington Post, which cited anonymous US sources for the meeting, did not elaborate on the content of the discussions between the Taliban co-founder and the CIA boss.
But it said it was likely they revolved around any delay in the deadline for the US to finish evacuations at the airport of the Afghan capital, where thousands of Afghans are still massed with the hope of fleeing the country.
Biden has set an August 31 deadline to finish the chaotic airlift organised by thousands of temporarily deployed US and UK troops, but has left the door open to an extension if needed. But a spokesman for the Taliban warned on Monday the hardline Islamist group would not agree to any extension.
Taliban pick ministers, intel chief, says report
The Taliban have appointed a new finance minister, an intelligence chief, and an acting interior minister in Afghanistan, the Pajhwok news agency reported on Tuesday. It said Gul Agha would be the finance minister and Sadr Ibrahim would be the acting interior minister. Najibullah would be intelligence chief, while Mullah Shirin would be Kabul governor and Hamdullah Nomani the mayor of the capital.
Western forces at Kabul airport worked frantically on Tuesday to get people out of Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline. Widespread chaos punctuated by sporadic violence has gripped Kabul’s airport, with western troops and Afghan security guards driving back crowds.
Countries that have evacuated some 58,700 people over the past 10 days were trying to meet the deadline agreed earlier with the Taliban for the withdrawal of foreign forces, a Nato diplomat told Reuters.