Blinken visits Kabul as US readies pullout
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to brief the country’s leaders on U.S. plans to withdraw its remaining troops by Sept. 11 and to press for a peace agreement with the Taliban.
Blinken made the stop, which wasn’t announced beforehand in keeping with the strict security, after President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the U.S. was pulling the more than 2,500 remaining troops from the country by the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. An additional 7,000 allied forces are also expected to withdraw.
“The reason I’m here, so quickly after the president’s speech last night, is to demonstrate literally, by our presence, that we have an enduring and ongoing commitment to Afghanistan,” Blinken told a crowd at the U.S Embassy in Kabul. He then met with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, saying the two countries’ “partnership is changing, but the partnership is enduring.”
“We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities,” Ghani told him.
Blinken visited NATO allies in Brussels earlier to coordinate plans for the withdrawal. The decision pushes back a May 1 deadline that the Trump administration agreed to with Taliban leaders last year.
Military and diplomatic leaders had argued that the Pentagon’s previous “conditions-based” approach for withdrawal was a recipe for leaving U.S. forces in the country forever.
Although some members of Congress have endorsed Biden’s withdrawal plans, lawmakers from both parties have warned it would set the stage for the Taliban to return to power and for terrorists from al-qaida and the Islamic State group to reestablish operations in the country.
Blinken told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that the U.S. will work closely with allies on a “safe, deliberate and coordinated withdrawal of our forces from Afghanistan.”
A report on worldwide threats issued by U.S. intelligence agencies forecast Tuesday that the Taliban “is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan government will struggle ... if the coalition withdraws support.”