Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Kabul on Monday for an emergency meeting with Afghanistan’s political leaders. At issue is the failure of President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah to bury their political hatchet and work together to implement a Taliban peace deal.
Pompeo threatened to withhold $1 billion in assistance for Afghanistan if the Afghan leaders do not form an inclusive government and move forward on the peace process. “We note that Afghan leaders are acting inconsistently with their commitments under the Joint Declaration, chiefly failing to establish an inclusive national team to participate in intra-Afghan negotiations or take practical steps to facilitate prisoner releases by both sides as a confidence-building measure to reach a political settlement and achieve a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire,” Pompeo said. He then promptly flew off to Qatar, where he met with Taliban chief negotiator Mullah Baradar, who did not merit the same degree of opprobrium.
