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Washington’s high envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has resigned his submit, the State Division stated, amid mounting experiences that the division will conduct a collection of probes into the hasty and chaotic evacuation from Kabul.
Khalilzad’s resignation was introduced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, noting that he’ll quickly get replaced by his deputy Thomas West, a holdover from the Barack Obama administration.
“I thank Ambassador Khalilzad for his service and welcome Particular Consultant West to the function,” Blinken stated in an announcement, including that the brand new envoy, who beforehand served on Obama’s nationwide safety group, will now “lead diplomatic efforts” with Afghanistan’ new Taliban-led authorities. The secretary didn’t provide a purpose for Khalilzad’s choice to go away his submit.
A Donald Trump appointee with lengthy ties to hawkish neoconservative teams going again to the Bush Jr. period and past, the now-former envoy served as point-man on US negotiations with the Taliban forward of Washington’s exit from Afghanistan, serving to to deliver an finish to the longest warfare in American historical past. Rising up in Kabul earlier than spending time in the US as a international change pupil and later incomes a doctorate from the College of Chicago, Khalilzad performed a significant function in inking the February 2020 Doha deal which dedicated US forces to a full-on withdrawal.
In a resignation letter dated October 18 and obtained by a number of media shops, Khalilzad famous that the US is now “getting into a brand new section” in its Afghanistan coverage, saying he was introduced on to the Trump administration “after the choice had been made to considerably cut back or finish the navy and financial burden of the Afghan engagement on the US.” This, he stated, was meant to unencumber assets “for important priorities, together with home wants and the problem of coping with points associated to China.”
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He lamented, nonetheless, that regardless of their efforts, an extended hoped-for political settlement between the Taliban and the US-backed authorities in Kabul “didn’t go ahead as envisaged,” explaining that “the explanations for this are too complicated and I’ll share my ideas within the coming days and weeks, after leaving authorities service.”
Other than declaring a ‘new section’ in US-Afghan relations, Khalilzad didn’t give any purpose for his choice to resign, although stated he nonetheless plans to “contribute to the dialogue and debate” concerning the US’ aims going ahead.
Khalilzad’s resignation made the rounds quickly after experiences that the State Division’s inspector basic would launch a “collection of investigations” into the Joe Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, in response to paperwork obtained by Politico and NBC Information. The probes will reportedly deal with the administration’s Particular Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, the processing of Afghans searching for admission into the US as refugees, the resettlement of stated refugees in addition to the hasty evacuation from the US Embassy in Kabul, together with the “evacuation of US residents and Afghan nationals.”
“Given the elevated curiosity on this work by Congress and the distinctive circumstances requiring coordination throughout the Inspector Basic group, I wished to inform our committees of jurisdiction of this essential work,” stated State Division IG Diana Shaw in a letter to a number of committee heads within the Home and Senate, notifying them that her workplace intends to open “a number of oversight initiatives” in relation to the Afghan pull-out.
Shaw spokesman Ryan Holden, nonetheless, denied that the oversight initiatives amounted to a full-on “investigation” in feedback to Politico, as an alternative deeming them “opinions,” although he didn’t clarify the distinction between the 2.
“State [Department Office of the Inspector General] notified its committees of jurisdiction at the moment of deliberate initiatives within the areas you point out,” Holden stated. “This work might be performed in coordination with different members of the IG group. Nonetheless, it’s inaccurate to say that these initiatives are investigations. We indicated to Congress that these initiatives might be opinions.”
READ MORE: Pentagon provides unspecified ‘condolence funds’ for 7 Afghan kids & support employee murdered in botched drone strike
The Pentagon’s personal IG workplace additionally has a minimum of three opinions underway in relation to the withdrawal, which can reportedly deal with the badly executed August 29 drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 Afghan civilians – together with seven kids – the navy’s screening course of for brand new Afghan arrivals and Pentagon assist for refugee relocation efforts, in response to Politico.
Independently, a number of congressional panels have launched their very own opinions of the withdrawal, whereas John Sopko, the Particular Inspector Basic for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) – the first watchdog for the warfare and amongst its most vocal critics in workplace – may launch a separate probe.
Although former President Donald Trump initially negotiated the withdrawal deal over the winter of 2020, with Khalilzad main these talks, his successor Biden was left with the job of executing the coverage. Biden pushed again the unique withdrawal deadline by a number of months, from Might to September, although the additional time appeared to do little to easy out evacuations, which occurred over a number of weeks of chaos, seeing an Islamic State suicide bomber assault exterior the gates of the Kabul airport in late August, killing some 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American troopers. A number of People searching for to return house, in the meantime, stay stranded within the nation, as flights out and in of the Kabul airport have stopped and resumed intermittently amid ongoing post-withdrawal confusion.
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