Zalmay Khalilzad was made a special representative in the talks that the US had started for a political solution with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Khalilzad gave the first interview to the Financial Times since US troops left Afghanistan.
In this interview, Khalilzad has said that if President Ashraf Ghani had not suddenly fled the country, then the situation would have been different.
Khalilzad has said that the last-minute agreement with the Taliban that was to be agreed upon was dashed by the escape of Ashraf Ghani. Khalilzad said the deal was to keep Kabul separate from Islamic extremists and that political transfers were being discussed.
Khalilzad was appointed in 2018 by then US President Donald Trump as a special representative in talks with the Taliban. According to Khalilzad, Ghani was to remain in office in Qatar until an agreement was reached under the plan.
This was the plan even when the Taliban reached the door in Kabul. Khalilzad said that Ghani's escape on August 15 had created a vacuum in the security system and that the Taliban had no problem reaching Kabul.
All the strategy was abandoned
As a result, America had to evacuate people in a hurry and the talks that started in Doha also came to an end.
Khalilzad said in an interview to the Financial Times, "We had secured an agreement with the Taliban that they would not go to Kabul. I had no idea that Ghani was about to leave Afghanistan.
It is clear from Khalilzad's statement that after the Taliban took control in Kabul, how the American plan went wrong. This week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told US senators that he had been assured by President Ashraf Ghani before leaving the country that he would act according to America's plan.
Earlier, Antony Blinken had said in an interview to Tolo News that he had no information about Ghani leaving the country. Lotfullah Najafizada of Tolo News asked Blinken, "Have you helped expel President Ghani from the country?
To this Blinken said, "No. I was talking to him on the phone. The day before President Ghani left Afghanistan, he had spoken to him on the phone. Our talks were on the ongoing talks on the transfer of power in Doha.
"He told me that if these talks were not successful, he would fight till his death. After this, he left the country within 24 hours. I had absolutely no idea about their plan and neither did we make arrangements for their escape.
Opportunity for Taliban
Khalilzad said, "The security forces in Kabul were scattered due to the disappearance of Ashraf Ghani. The question of law and order had deepened with Ghani's departure. Taliban asked if we are going to take responsibility for the security of Kabul? We said no, we are not going to take responsibility for the security of Kabul.
Khalilzad said that he had a meeting with US regional military commander General Frank Mackenzie and a senior Taliban leader in Doha that day.
Khalilzad rejected claims that the US had allowed the Taliban to enter Kabul's Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 15 as part of a strategy. "We had not given any such indication. What we have said, the mission of the US military was the same.
In the US talks with the Taliban, Ghani was not a part of the future government in Afghanistan. The Taliban had already placed the condition of Ghani's resignation in front of the US.
Ghani posted a video on Facebook on 18 August. In this video he had said that his life was in danger, so he had to leave the country. Ghani said that he did not want bloody violence to happen in Kabul.
Khalilzad's failure?
Khalilzad, 70, is a Republican. His role in negotiations with the Taliban has been criticized. Critics say Khalilzad's strategy did not work in the last three years, and the Taliban seized power on their own by overthrowing the elected government.
US President Joe Biden criticized the deal with the Taliban in 2020. Khalilzad is Afghan in origin. It was expected that after Biden became president, he would be removed from the post of special envoy.
But Biden did not remove it. Khalilzad has said that he too was preparing to withdraw after Biden's arrival. According to the Financial Times, Ashraf Ghani once refused to meet Khalilzad.
Khalilzad has been the US ambassador to Afghanistan and has worked in the region for 20 years. He has blamed those before him for the 2020 deal. He said that he was appointed in 2018 because what the US wanted to achieve was not achieved.
Khalilzad said, "I expected more but I have done what I could. I tried to sort things out according to the situation.
What did President Biden have to say?
Defending the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said this month that in February 2020, the Trump administration had reached an agreement with the Taliban on the withdrawal of troops.
After this agreement, they had two options - either accept this agreement or send more soldiers to continue the war.
Biden said that he did not want to continue an endless fight, nor could he continue to pursue a plan to get out of there. Biden said that the US attacked Afghanistan not because it was ruled by the Taliban, but because the September 11 attack was from Afghanistan.
In early July, Biden said that the US did not go to Afghanistan to build a nation. America's initial objective was to destroy al-Qaeda and capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Biden argued that the Taliban was not America's main enemy and that defeating it was also not a priority.
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