WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said on a visit to Kabul that the time had come for US troops to withdraw from Afghanistan and he warned the Taliban that any attack on them would be met with “a very forceful response.”
Speaking at a televised news conference at the US embassy, Blinken said that the United States never intended to maintain a permanent military presence in the country.
“If as our forces are withdrawing the Taliban were to attack them, it would be met with a very forceful response’’, he said, adding that US support would continue to Afghan security forces battling the insurgents.
He said the United States will “intensify” its diplomacy on Afghanistan and do “everything we can” to advance efforts to secure a peace agreement between Kabul and the insurgents.
Washington also will continue its humanitarian support to Afghanistan and advocacy for the rights of women and girls, he said.
Blinken, arriving in Kabul after attending Nato talks in Brussels, met with Ghani at the presidential palace after first greeting US soldiers at the heavily fortified US embassy.
“The reason I’m here, so quickly after the president’s speech last night, is to demonstrate literally, by our presence, that we have an enduring an ongoing commitment to Afghanistan’’, Blinken said at the embassy, according to a press pool report.
At the palace, he assured Ghani that “the partnership is changing, but the partnership is enduring.”
He apparently was referring to Biden’s assurances that the United States would support the Afghan government through diplomacy and financial assistance and remain engaged in efforts to secure a peace accord with Taliban.
Blinken also met with Abdullah Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, who expressed support for the US decision.
“This does not mean the end of relations and cooperation between the two countries. A new chapter of relations and cooperation between the two countries has returned and we will continue our cooperation in various fields in this chapter’’, Abdullah said in a statement.
Biden said on Wednesday that US troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan starting May 1 and would be gone before September 11, the 20th anniversary of the al Qaeda attacks on the United States that triggered the US-led invasion. — AFP
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