Afghanistan: the American negotiator returns to Kabul

US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Kabul on Monday (March 1) for a series of talks with senior government officials aimed at getting the peace process back on track, threatened by the violence and uncertainty surrounding the withdrawal of foreign forces.

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This is Zalmay Khalilzad's first visit to Afghanistan since he was confirmed in office at the end of January by new President Joe Biden.

Appointed by former President Donald Trump, this career diplomat was the architect of the agreement signed by Washington with the Taliban in February 2020 in Doha, which provides for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan by May. .

This agreement also allowed the opening in September in Doha of peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government.

But negotiations have stalled, as insecurity has increased in recent months in the country.

The Biden administration therefore ordered a review of the Doha agreement, which made the US withdrawal conditional on security guarantees from the Taliban and their commitment to cut all ties with terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda.

In Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad met with Abdullah Abdullah, the president of the High Council for National Reconciliation, a government body that oversees the peace process in Qatar.

The two sides "

" a spokesperson said. - speech of Abdullah Abdullah.

Zalmay Khalilzad was then due to travel to Qatar to meet with Taliban officials, as well as in several countries in the region that were not specified by the US State Department.

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In recent months, not a day in Afghanistan has gone by without a bomb explosion, attacks on government forces or a targeted assassination attempt against a civil society figure.

The Taliban deny any responsibility for the targeted attacks and the Islamic State organization has claimed most of them.

But the Afghan government and the United States continue to blame them.

Insurgents have warned that if Washington were to reverse the Doha deal, they would resume their attacks on US forces, which have since been suspended.