WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES – Former US special Zalmay Khalilzad who brokered the US-Taliban deal in 2020 says that the United States should remain engaged in Afghanistan.
Mr. Khalilzad was summoned to testify on Thursday, February 15, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee which looks into the implementation of the agreement he signed with the insurgent group that now rules over Afghanistan. “Leaving Afghanistan behind is a mistake,” he said during the hearing, professing that “the final chapter for the country has not yet been written.”
“The seeds of the values we planted may bear fruit over time. It is a mistake to turn our back on [this] country.”
The republican-controlled house of representatives has multiple committees and subcommittees investigating the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The pullout helped bring the Taliban back to power, sending hundreds of thousands into exile.
Mr. Khalilzad, who was appointed by former president Donald Trump to lead negotiations with the Taliban has been criticised for signing a deal that is widely seen as one-sided which helped the group regain control of Afghanistan.
In his defence, Mr. Khalilzad told American legislators that the United States needed to focus on the competition with major powers such as China and Russia, along with the threat from Iran, necessitating a solution that concluded its military presence in a country that no longer played a fundamental role in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Khalilzad was instrumental in shaping the US engagement in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He served as the US Special Envoy and then Ambassador to Afghanistan and oversaw the country’s promulgation of a new constitution and presidential and parliamentary elections.
Speaking on Thursday, however, he labelled America’s goal of transforming Afghanistan into a modern and democratic state as unrealistic, despite extensive efforts, as the country faced significant governance problems and widespread corruption.
Although Mr. Khalilzad maintains that the deal he brokered concluded the American military presence in Afghanistan, consecutive reports show that threats of terrorism are only expanding from Afghanistan. A recent UN report showed that multiple regional and international terror groups including Al Qaeda and ISIS are deeply entrenched within the Taliban ranks and files.
Nearly one after the Taliban took over Afghanistan for the second time, a US drone strike killed Al Qaeda leader, Ayman Al Zawahiri in downtown Kabul where he was living in a safe compound provided by the Taliban leadership.
In his Thursday testimony to the US Congress, Mr. Khalilzad defended his deal, arguing that its implementation, which requires continued engagement with the Taliban, will only protect American national security interests.
