Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team is attempting to “accelerate” negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan central government, but Afghan officials regard the latest effort as a proposal for “coerced” peace that leaves them vulnerable.
“It is true that collectively — the collective ‘We,’ the United States included — we’re considering a number of different ideas to, again, accelerate that process,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “But at the same time, everything, every idea, we have put on the table, every proposal that is out there, certainly any proposal that we would endorse, we understand that this process, at its core, must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.”
Price refused to provide any details about the U.S. plans, but a pair of documents circulating in Afghanistan’s local media have provoked a furious response in Kabul. An apparently leaked letter from Blinken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani implies that “disunity” among Ghani and other officials could “sabotage” the peace process — an observation paired with a warning that the U.S. may yet decide to withdraw all forces by May 1, even though the Taliban have continued attacking Afghan forces despite a previously signed agreement with the U.S.
“Even with the continuation of financial assistance from the United States to your forces after an American military withdrawal, I am concerned that the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains,” the purported Blinken letter concludes. “I am making this clear to you so that you understand the urgency of my tone regarding the collective work outlined in this letter.”
AFGHANISTAN IS BIDEN’S WAR NOW, AND HE’S IN A BOX
Blinken’s point man for the Afghanistan talks, special representative Zalmay Khalilzad, who was tapped for the job by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and has retained the role under President Biden, reportedly has proposed the establishment of a “transitional peace government” appointed by the Kabul government and the Taliban. This government would remain in place pending negotiations over the constitution and new elections.
“The weakness in the message of the U.S. State Department is that they have not recognized Afghanistan’s structure, and it has coercive language, and a coerced and tailored peace will not lead anywhere,” one of Ghani’s advisers, Mohammad Mohaqiq, told the Afghan outlet Tolo News.
Khalilzad is also reportedly proposing an international peace conference, perhaps hosted by Turkey, but his initiatives have been viewed with suspicion by Ghani’s team, which accused him of “ostracizing” Kabul during the previous round of negotiations with the Taliban.
“The problem isn’t outside powers; it’s the Taliban,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Rubin said. “Khalilzad and now Blinken are acting like colonial governors. The political situation in Kabul isn’t easy, but the problem the U.S. most identifies is that Kabul isn’t playing along as much with the peace plan as the State Department would like. But is the problem there Kabul or the fact that Khalilzad cut Kabul out of the deal’s crafting and then sought to blacklist [Afghan officials] who criticized the logic of the agreement?”
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Price maintained that Khalilzad is appropriately deferential to Afghan officials.
“It is ultimately the right and responsibility of Afghans to determine their political future,” he said. “The United States has a supportive role to play. The international community needs to support that process, needs to be constructive, and that is precisely why Ambassador Khalilzad has been in the region undertaking this important diplomacy.”
