Senior Taliban members have met with former president Hamid Karzai and senior official Abdullah Abdullah as they seek to form a government in Afghanistan, pledging it will be “positively different” from their brutal rule two decades ago.
But thousands of Afghans and foreigners are still attempting to flee the country, fearful about the hardliners’ past record of human rights abuses.
And President Joe Biden—under pressure at home and abroad over his handling of the withdrawal of US forces after 20 years of war—said Wednesday that some soldiers could remain past the August 31 deadline to ensure all Americans get out.
The veteran Democrat also told ABC News that he believed it would have been impossible to leave Afghanistan “without chaos ensuing”, defending his actions.
Washington however expressed concern that the militants, who took over the country after a lightning offensive ending in Kabul at the weekend, were already reneging on promises of safe passage to the airport for Afghans wishing to leave.
In the United Arab Emirates, ousted president Ashraf Ghani—who fled as the insurgents closed in on the capital—said he supported negotiations between the Taliban and former top officials, and was in his own talks to return home.
But US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Ghani was “no longer a figure” on the country’s complex political stage.
The Taliban have come full circle after being toppled from power by a US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Read Full Story
France24 Rating
Discover more from News Facts Network
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
