The US envoy on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said that President Ghani’s abrupt exit from Kabul hustled the deal in which the Taliban would negotiate a political transition in Kabul.
In his first interview since the collapse of the western-backed government, Khalilzad said that the Taliban had agreed not to enter Kabul for two weeks and shape a future government.
Khalilzad who brokered a 2020 deal with the Taliban to withdraw US troops said, “Even at the end, we had an agreement with the Talibs for (them) not to enter Kabul,” but as Ghani fled on August 15 and the Taliban, in a previously arranged meeting that day with General Frank McKenzie, chief of Central Command, asked if US troops would ensure security for Kabul as government authority crumbled.
“And then you know what happened, we weren’t going to take responsibility,” Khalilzad said.
Earlier, the State Department Spokesperson said that Biden had ordered US troops would only priorities the evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies and not extend the war. When asked about Khalilzad’s remarks, Ned Price said it was not an option to stay “a moment longer” in Kabul.
Price added, “There was never a realistic, there was never a viable, there was never a practical option for the United States to stay,”
“We were left with a very clear and stark impression that if the United States sought to prolong our presence on the ground, our servicemembers… would again be targets of Taliban violence not to mention terrorist attacks by groups like ISIS.”
Ghani, who fled to the United Arab Emirates, has apologized for his actions but argued that he left on the advice of palace security to avoid bloody street fighting.
The Afghan-born Khalilzad has been fiercely criticized in Washington after the Taliban takeover. However, Khalilzad did not take responsibility saying that it was Afghan’s job to plan a peace deal.
