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For Washington, the flight of the Afghan president has derailed a transitional agreement

2021-09-15T21:11:34.796Z


The flight of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on August 15 precipitated the total victory of the Taliban and derailed an agreement negotiated by the ...


The flight of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on August 15 precipitated the total victory of the Taliban and derailed a deal, negotiated by the United States, for a smooth transition and a form of power-sharing, the envoy said. American for Afghanistan.

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In his first interview since the collapse of the pro-Western government, Zalmay Khalilzad told the

Financial Times

that on August 14 he obtained from the Islamist movement a delay of two weeks before it took Kabul. "

At the very end, we had an agreement with the Taliban so that they do not enter Kabul,

" he said in this interview published Wednesday by the British daily.

According to this plan, President Ghani was to remain in office until the belligerents negotiating in Doha, Qatar, reached an agreement on a future government.

Meanwhile, the Taliban had to wait outside the Afghan capital.

"

In this context, with President Ghani in Afghanistan, at his post, I think there was hope to see a negotiated compromise

" for a transition to a new government, "

ideally inclusive and representative of the Afghan people

", US diplomacy spokesman Ned Price confirmed on Wednesday.

Read alsoIn Kabul, daily life subject to the grim law of the Taliban

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress on Tuesday that he spoke on August 14 with Ashraf Ghani and obtained his “

support

” for this “

plan to have a transfer of power

” to a government “

led by the Taliban. but broadly representative

”.

He assured that the Afghan president had given him no indication of his willingness to flee.

The next day, August 15, Ashraf Ghani suddenly left for abroad.

According to Zalmay Khalilzad and Ned Price, “

the vacuum

” left by his flight precipitated the capture of Kabul by the insurgents, making the security of the city even more unstable.

"

Not an option

"

In a meeting held that day in Doha between the head of the US Army Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, and senior Taliban officials, the latter asked whether the United States soldiers were ready to "

take responsibility for security in Kabul,

" the US envoy reported.

"

And then you know what happened, we were not going to take this responsibility

", added Zalmay Khalilzad.

Read also In Afghanistan, the Taliban stage their vision of women

His version seems to suggest that, contrary to what Joe Biden's government claims, the Taliban were prepared for the US military to at least temporarily stay in place for this transitional phase. The Biden government has always assured that staying beyond the deadline it set of August 31 would have endangered American soldiers, and that its only mission in the last half of August was to evacuate the troops. foreigners and Afghans who wanted to leave.

Maintaining order in Kabul is not an option that we have considered

” and “

I don't think anyone here thinks it would have been viable,

” Ned Price replied. "

We were clearly given to understand that if the United States tried to extend its presence on the ground, our soldiers (...) would again have been the target of violence by the Taliban, not to mention the terrorist attacks of

" jihadist

groups.

like the Islamic State, he insisted.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-09-15

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