WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES – The former U.S. Envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who brokered the 2020 U.S.-Taliban deal in Doha, says that the agreement focused on safe military withdrawal, not human rights issues.
In response to a recent resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives seeking accountability from several U.S. officials, including Khalilzad, he described the claims against him as “flatly untrue.”
The resolution H.Res.1469, introduced by U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, passed with 219 votes in favor in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, September 25.
The resolution, based on the committee’s yearlong investigation, specifically names 15 current and former U.S. officials, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, and Zalmay Khalilzad, to be held accountable for the “disaster.”
Regarding Khalilzad, the resolution states that he “baselessly asserted the Taliban would uphold their commitments and respect basic human rights.”
In his response, Mr. Khalilzad stated that he never made such a statement and expressed surprise that such a claim would be made without any documentation.
He emphasized that the Doha agreement did not address human rights but rather focused on the terms for safe military withdrawal and combating terrorism threats from Afghanistan.
“The Doha Agreement that I helped negotiate under President Trump did not deal with human rights,” Khalilzad explained. “It addressed the withdrawal terms, including no attacks on U.S. forces and ensuring Afghanistan would not be used as a base for terrorism, including by al-Qaida, to threaten U.S. security.”
According to him, the Taliban authorities had agreed to negotiate human rights policies with the former government. “Some such negotiations took place, but no agreements were arrived at before the completion of our withdrawal.”
The Doha Agreement, which facilitated the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, was signed between the U.S. and the Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar, during Trump’s presidency in 2020.
The agreement aimed to address four key issues: the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops from Afghanistan, the reduction of violence in the country, the initiation of a national peace dialogue, and the assurance that Afghanistan would not become a safe haven for terrorist groups again.
Khalilzad says that several elements of the agreement remained unfulfilled by the U.S. because the Taliban have not met some of their commitments outlined in the agreement.
He also highlighted the final phase of the withdrawal, which led to the rapid collapse of the U.S.-backed republic government, attributing it to “poor intelligence” regarding the unexpected developments in the country.
