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Blinken Offers Afghan Peace Plan Help 03/08 06:06
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is proposing a series of steps to help
jumpstart Afghanistan's stalled peace process between the government and
Taliban, according to a letter from Blinken to Afghanistan's president Ashra
Ghani published Sunday by Afghanistan's TOLONews.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken is proposing a series
of steps to help jumpstart Afghanistan's stalled peace process between the
government and Taliban, according to a letter from Blinken to Afghanistan's
president Ashra Ghani published Sunday by Afghanistan's TOLONews.
The letter calls for bringing the two sides together for a U.N.-facilitated
conference with foreign ministers and envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan,
Iran, India and the United States "to discuss a unified approach to supporting
peace in Afghanistan."
Blinken also calls for holding talks between the Afghan government and
Taliban in a senior-level meeting in Turkey in the coming weeks to hammer out a
revised proposal for a 90-day reduction in violence. The secretary of state has
also called on special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to share with both the Afghan
government and Taliban written proposals to help accelerate discussions,
according to the TOLONews report.
Blinken also made clear in the letter that the Biden administration
continues to consider a "full withdrawal" of the roughly 2,500 U.S. forces in
the country by the May 1 deadline negotiated by Trump administration.
The State Department declined to comment on the TOLONews report.
"We have not made any decisions about our force posture in Afghanistan after
May 1," the State Department said in a statement. "All options remain on the
table."
Afghanistan presents one of the new administration's most difficult foreign
policy decisions. The U.S. public is weary of a war nearly 20 years old, but
pulling out now could be seen as giving the Taliban too much leverage and
casting a shadow over the sacrifices made by U.S. and coalition troops and
Afghan civilians.
Blinken urged Ghani to quickly embrace the proposal and underscored his
concern that the security situation in the country could quickly deteriorate as
the weather warms in Afghanistan
"Even with the continuation of financial assistance from the United States
to your forces after an American military withdrawal, I am concerned that the
security situation will worsen and the Taliban could make rapid territorial
gains," Blinken wrote in the letter.
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