The United States has asked the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan to not recognise any government within the conflict-ridden area if it comes into power by force, it emerged on Wednesday
The demand was made at a Tuesday afternoon news briefing at the US State Department and preceded a meeting of the Troika Plus nations in Doha on Wednesday.
The group, which includes the US, Russia, China and Pakistan, is aimed at finding a political solution to the decades-old war in Afghanistan.
During the news briefing, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that two key meetings were being held in Doha this week, bringing together representatives from the region and beyond and from multilateral organisations, reported Dawn.
The participants will press for a reduction in violence, a ceasefire and a “commitment by the part of these regional and broader governments and multilateral and international institutions not to recognise any government that is imposed by force,” Price said.
The meetings in the Qatari capital come as the Taliban have stepped up their campaign to defeat the government as foreign forces withdraw.
It is pertinent here to mention that The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the US is concerned that the Taliban could capture Kabul in 1-3 months, far sooner than previous intelligence assessment suggested.
According to the newspaper, which was citing official American sources, the situation in the country is now worse than it was in June when the US intelligence predicted that Kabul could collapse in 6-12 months after the American troop pullout from Afghanistan.
“Everything is moving in the wrong direction,” a source familiar with the new intelligence assessment told the paper.
The hostilities between the Afghan government and the Taliban have intensified as foreign troops began withdrawing from the country. The Taliban have since captured large rural territories and launched an offensive on major cities.
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden continues to believe it is not inevitable the Taliban would take over Kabul or the entirety of Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, the Taliban seized three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan, putting nine of the nation’s 34 in the insurgents’ hands.
In this regard, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said in a tweet that the corruption of leadership drowns the nations and Afghanistan is an example of that.
He said that with the eighth province falling to the Taliban, the people of Afghanistan and the United States must question the so-called leadership of Afghanistan as to where the $2 trillion received to build the Afghan National Army had been spent.
The minister pointed out how come all ministers and generals became billionaires but the people of Afghanistan are suffering due to poverty. He asked who is responsible for these sufferings.
Hundreds of Afghan soldiers who retreated to the airport outside Kunduz after the Taliban captured the northern city at the weekend have surrendered, a local lawmaker told AFP Wednesday.
Amruddin Wali, a member of the Kunduz provincial council, said soldiers, police and uprising forces “surrendered to the Taliban with all their military gear”.
Pakistan has sent its special envoy Muhammad Sadiq and its ambassador to Kabul, Mansoor Khan, while US Special envoy for Afghanistan Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is representing Washington in the talks in Doha.
Kremlin’s envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov and the newly appointed Chinese envoy for Afghanistan Yue Xiao Yong are representing their countries.
All these countries have major stakes in bringing peace to Afghanistan and are seeking a regional consensus on the Afghan conflict despite their differences.
In the press briefing, Price said that Khalilzad had been sent to Doha to “advance a collective international response to what can only be termed as a rapidly deteriorating security situation”.
However, the US media on Tuesday reported that Khalilzad was there to warn the Taliban against pursuing a military victory on the ground.
He will “deliver a blunt message: A Taliban government that comes to power through force in Afghanistan will not be recognised,” media reported.
In a Voice of America interview earlier this week, the Afghan-born US envoy warned that if the Taliban took over the country by force, “they will become a pariah state”.
He reminded the insurgents that “there must be a political solution, a political agreement for lasting peace, and we will stay with it. We are committed to staying with it until that goal is achieved.”
In another interview with Radio Free Europe, Khalilzad — the architect of the 2020 US-Taliban agreement that paved the way for the foreign pullout — warned of a “protracted war” if the Afghan government and the Taliban focus on a “military solution” to end hostilities.
He said that the lack of progress in peace talks has led “both sides to focus on a military solution”.
