Blinken arrives to pitch pullout of U.S. military
KABUL — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Biden’s decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end America’s longest war.
Blinken sought to assure senior Afghan politicians that the United States remains committed to the country despite Biden’s announcement a day earlier that the 2,500 U.S. soldiers remaining in the country would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that led to the U.S. invasion in 2001.
“I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan,” Blinken told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as they met at the presidential palace in Kabul. “The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring.”
“We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities,” Ghani told Blinken, expressing gratitude for the sacrifices of U.S. 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’re writing together.”
“We are grateful to your
people, your country, your administration,” Abdullah said.
Blinken arrived in the Afghan capital from Brussels, where he won quick approval from the allies to end their Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.
Biden, Blinken, Austin have all tried to put a brave face on
the pullout, maintaining that the U.S. and NATOled missions to Afghanistan had achieved their goal of decimating Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network that launched the 9/11 attacks and clearing the country of terrorist elements that could use Afghan soil to plot similar strikes.
However, that argument has
faced pushback from some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates, who say the withdrawal will result in the loss of freedoms that Afghans enjoyed after the Taliban was ousted from power in late 2001.