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Joe Biden, President of the United States, met Afghan leaders Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah continued to show their commitment to Afghanistan in the White House on Friday as US troops withdrew.
“Cooperation between Afghanistan and the United States is not over,” Biden said at a meeting at the Ohan Office with Ghani and Abdullah.
“It will be permanent, and you know, our troops will leave, but our support in Afghanistan is not over,” Biden said.
Most of the 4,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be expelled in the next two weeks, and the U.S. expects the U.S. and coalition commanders to be removed from office earlier than planned, according to The Associated Press.
In a brief statement to the media at the top of the meeting, Biden praised Ghani and Abdullah for their “hard work” and efforts to “achieve unity among Afghan leaders across the board”.
“Afghans will have to decide their future, what they want. And it won’t be because we lack support,” Biden said.
Ghani thanked American soldiers and their families for their sacrifices in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, but the war-torn country is on the brink of civil war.
“It is a choice of values, the values of an inclusive or exclusionary system,” Ghana said, adding that Afghan government forces are pushing back Taliban fighters from conflict zones.
“We are determined to have unity, coherence, a national feeling of sacrifice and we will not save anything,” Ghana said.
“You will see that with determination, unity and cooperation, we will overcome all odds.”
Ghani and Abdullah met last Friday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and CIA officials to hand over U.S. forces and discuss future emergency plans.
“We are very encouraged and happy because this partnership is happening,” Ghanik said at the White House.
Among the greater security, Ghani was scheduled to give remarks at a media conference in Washington, DC, following a meeting with the White House on Biden.
Biden set a formal deadline for U.S. and foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan on Sept. 11, marking the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion, following al-Qaeda attacks in New York and Washington (DC).
About 650 U.S. troops will be in Afghanistan to provide security for U.S. and international diplomats in Kabul after the main U.S. military contingent completes its withdrawal, U.S. officials told the AP.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ahead of a June 25 meeting at the Pentagon [Alex Brandon/AP Photo]
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Al Jazeera he has an armed group in an exclusive interview “The right to react” If the U.S. keeps troops in Afghanistan from Sept. 11, when the withdrawal is about to end.
“If they stay here, I think it’s a kind of follow-up to the occupation. They have been raped and we have every right to react, ”Shaheen said.
Hundreds of more U.S. soldiers will remain at Kabul airport, possibly until September, where it is described as a temporary move by U.S. officials to help Turkish troops providing security until a more formal security operation led by Turkey is carried out.
Turkey already has 500 troops in Afghanistan as part of NATO deployment and will be reassigned to protect the airport, Turkey’s defense minister said.
Turkish President Biden and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the airport security deal when they both met in Brussels on the sidelines of a NATO summit in June.
Biden has a “fundamental belief”: “After 20 years, it’s time to bring our troops home,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday before the meeting.
“We are doing this in an orderly and timely manner,” Psaki told White House reporters.
Fighting between Afghan government forces and the Taliban has intensified in recent weeks as the Taliban have stepped up attacks on Afghan security forces and police. renewed civil war.
Fighters linked to the armed group have been in power since May parts of the territory it surrounds the provincial capitals. Taliban progress has raised alarms among UN and U.S. senior officials.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his French counterpart in Paris on Friday, saying Taliban attacks do not match framework for peace negotiations The US agreed with the armed group.
“We are paying close attention to the situation on the ground in Afghanistan,” Blinken told reporters in the Paris media.
“We are also working very hard on whether the Taliban is at all serious about a peaceful solution to the conflict,” Blinken said.
“We remain committed to diplomacy, but the actions that the country would try to take by force are completely inconsistent with finding a peaceful solution,” he said.
When the retirement is coming to an end, it is the Biden administration preparing to evacuate Thousands of Afghan translators, guides and assistants worked in the US.
“We have identified a team … who have been interpreters and translators – as well as other endangered categories – who have helped us. They will be relocated to a location outside Afghanistan before our military service is completed by September,” Psaki said on Friday.
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