Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s point man for the Afghanistan peace talks will travel to Moscow for a Russia-hosted conference expected to include the Taliban.
“This meeting will complement all other international efforts to support the Afghanistan peace process,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters Monday.
Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad’s trip to Moscow takes place as President Biden’s administration works to jump-start inter-Afghan negotiations ahead of a May 1 deadline for the withdrawal of American forces, pursuant to an antecedent deal that Khalilzad negotiated with the Taliban during former President Donald Trump’s tenure. Biden’s team is reviewing whether to adhere to that exit strategy given Taliban violence since the signing of that pact, but the administration is also pressuring Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to “accelerate” his own talks with the Taliban.
“If we withdraw and no deal was made with the Taliban, I think the government of Afghanistan is going to be in for a very stiff fight to retain possession” of population centers, Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie, who leads U.S. Central Command, told the Los Angeles Times last week.
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Ghani’s team has expressed irritation at a new peace plan reportedly circulated by Blinken’s team, but leaders in Kabul adopted a cooperative tone between meetings with Khalilzad on Monday.
“We discussed the peace process, new initiatives, the latest political developments and steps forward,” Abdullah Abdullah, a political rival of Ghani who leads Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, wrote on Twitter. “We reiterated our call for a political settlement and acceleration of the peace efforts.”
Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was designated as a terrorist by the U.S. government in 2003 but signed a peace deal with the Afghan central government in 2016, celebrated Khalilzad’s efforts as a sign of final defeat for U.S. and allied forces in the country. He plans to participate in both the Moscow meeting and a separate conference that Khalilzad is reportedly trying to convene in Turkey.
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“The U.S. wants to quickly withdraw its remaining forces from Afghanistan and to change the government in Kabul, which is their supporter and the cause of the violence, to a government that is acceptable for all Afghans,” Hekmatyar said, according to Afghanistan’s Tolo News. “We support the two meetings and will attend them.”
