Afghan president to visit Washington

Plan announced as Taliban violence surges; U.S. negotiator returns to talks

KABUL, Afghanistan — With U.S.-Taliban peace talks at a critical moment and insurgent violence on the rise, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is planning to travel to Washington in the next week to meet with U.S. officials, an aide to a senior official in Ghani’s administration confirmed Friday.

The trip was planned for today but has now been delayed by several days, the aide said.

Meanwhile, the top U.S. peace negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, returned to Qatar on Thursday to meet with Taliban officials after the latest round of talks there had already ended, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Both unscheduled moves came as Afghan society reeled from a surge of Taliban bombings and attacks over the past week in Kabul and elsewhere, even as Khalilzad and other U.S. officials declared that a peace deal was imminent. The attacks left scores of people dead and residents full of anxiety, confusion and anger.

There is particular concern that insurgents will target Shiite communities in Kabul, which are celebrating the sacred religious period of Muharram this week. Both the Taliban and Islamic State militants have attacked mosques, shrines and other Shiite targets during Muharram in previous years.

“Everyone is scared now. Nobody wants to go to work or send their kids to school because there might be more explosions,” said Kamal Khan, 32, a mason who was sharing tea with his brothers on a blanket outside a hospital Friday morning. They were waiting to visit an elderly cousin who was blinded in a suicide bombing in Jalalabad this week.

“We have all been hoping for peace, but the Taliban want to show they are strong by killing,” Khan said. “We would like to have elections, but people will be too afraid to vote. Everything is stuck now. We have lost our way.”

After years of conflict, Afghans have become used to the dreadful routine of urban violence — the gruesome wounds inflicted by explosives, the hastily dug graves. But the growing anticipation of peace, and plans for presidential elections later this month, had allowed people to imagine a life without war for the first time in decades.

Now, conflicting signals from Taliban and U.S. officials, a battle among the Afghan political elite about who will negotiate later with the insurgents, and doubts about whether an election should be held at all, have left many Afghans perplexed and anguished.

On Thursday, a car bomb near the U.S. Embassy and the Afghan intelligence headquarters in Kabul killed 10 Afghan civilians and two NATO service members, one of them American. The Taliban also launched offensives in far-western Farah province and northeastern Baghlan province.

Afghan officials have expressed serious concerns about the proposed deal, saying it does not offer enough reassurance that Afghan civilians and security forces will be protected if U.S. troops withdraw as agreed. The new spate of violence has deepened that concern and appeared to have prompted Ghani’s unexpected plans to visit Washington.

“Seeking peace with this group that is still pursuing the killing of innocent people is meaningless,” Ghani said Thursday.

Adding to the chaos, the head of the Afghan intelligence agency was forced to step down Thursday after the day’s Kabul bombing and an Afghan security raid in Jalalabad that killed four brothers and aroused local protests.

Critics have blamed Ghani for abetting political turmoil by insisting on holding elections under dangerous conditions in an effort to win a second term. Others blamed his government for failing to plan for Afghan talks with Taliban leaders that are supposed to come after a U.S. deal.

Conflicting U.S. statements have also exacerbated public confusion and worry about the proposed deal, which has been negotiated in secret. Khalilzad has painted it as a positive step, and President Donald Trump has stressed the urgency of removing U.S. forces from the country. But a key Republican senator and a group of former U.S. diplomats have warned against a hasty withdrawal. The diplomats said Afghanistan could collapse into civil war unless some troops remain and a stronger deal is signed.

“Everything that’s happening is a mystery,” said Abdul Azam, a telephone company worker. “Do we know if the Taliban doing the negotiations are the real Taliban group in power? We hear the president making speeches and saying everything will be fine, but it’s not. People are confused and afraid.”

In west Kabul, where many Shiite Muslims and minority ethnic Hazaras live, the fear is palpable and specific.

Omid Hajji Agha, 19, said mosques in the area were “full during Muharram in the past, but not anymore. There is no security here. Everyone talks about peace, but peace talks are cheap words. Still the fighting continues.”