Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured that the United States is not disengaging from Afghanistan despite troop’s pull out.
Blinken at a press conference in London with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said “We’ve also been clear that even as our forces are drawing down and pulling out of Afghanistan, we are not withdrawing, we are not disengaging,” adding that the US intends “to be very active diplomatically in terms of trying to advance negotiations in a political settlement between the government of Afghanistan, the Taliban, and other key parties,”.
According to blinking the United States is currently focused on a political settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban, efforts are ongoing in Afghanistan to build political consensus on every side of the process as US and NATO troops are leaving the country.
Previously, Hillary Clinton for the first time publicly disapproved Joe Biden’s Troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Clinton said the United States should brace for two massive consequences after the withdrawal.
Hillary explained, first, the Afghan government will collapse to Taliban and the second is a flurry of immigrants if Afghanistan is plunged into civil war.
Clinton warned against the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan and voiced her concerns following handing over of Camp Antonik in Southern Helmand province to Afghan forces on Saturday.
She explained that she has foreseen two consequences, “One, the potential collapse of the Afghan government and a takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, probably with a resumption of civil war in certain parts of the country, but a largely Taliban-run government at some point in the not-too-distant future”.
“How do we help and protect the many, many thousands of Afghans who worked with the United States and NATO, who worked with American and other NATO-connected contractors who stood up and spoke out for women’s rights and human rights,” Clinton asked.
“I hope that the administration in concert with the Congress will have a very large visa program and will begin immediately to try to provide that channel for so many Afghans to utilize so that they are not left in danger.
“There will also be, I fear, a huge refugee outflow. And of course, the second big set of problems revolves around a resumption of activities by global terrorist groups, most particularly al-Qaeda and the Islamic State- Daesh.
“It’s one thing to pull out troops that have been supporting security in Afghanistan, supporting the Afghan military, leaving it pretty much to fend for itself, but we can’t afford to walk away from the consequences of that decision” CNN quoted Clinton.
The former secretary of state in the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton supported an increase of 30,000 US troops deployed to Afghanistan to fight the expanding Taliban insurgency during Obama’s tenure.
Zalmay Khalilzad, US special envoy for Afghan Reconciliation on his trip to Kabul met with the Afghan government, political and civil society, and discussed America’s enduring partnership, recent regional and international consultations, and the Afghan peace process.
The U.S embassy in a statement on Monday said Khalilzad held meetings with President Ashraf Ghani and the head of the High Council for National reconciliation in which he assured America will pursue its support for Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and “for country’s development agenda”.
He called Afghanistan’s 300,000 security forces a vital national asset against global terrorist threats.
“There was strong consensus within both regional and international community against any effort by the Taliban to pursue a military takeover”, Khalilzad while discussing the Afghan peace process said.
United States believes only a negotiated settlement can end the decades of war in Afghanistan.
