WASHINGTON – The Biden government reportedly launched a major diplomatic effort to try to end the decades-long war in Afghanistan by speeding up the peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban militant group.
Afghan network TOLONews has published a letter that it says was sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani outlining the United States plan to end four decades of war in Afghanistan.
In the reported correspondence, Blinken suggests that a power-sharing agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government may be a way out of the conflict, an idea that has met with opposition in Kabul in the past.
Blinken also said that the United States intends to ask the United Nations to convene chancellors and special envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India and the United States to discuss a “unified approach” to support peace in Afghanistan, according to the letter.
NBC News did not independently verify the authenticity of the letter, which came less than two months before the last American troops left the country under an agreement that former President Donald Trump’s government signed with Taliban militants.
A State Department spokesman said he did not comment on the alleged correspondence with foreign leaders, but added that “all options remain on the table” and that no decision has been made on the levels of US forces in Afghanistan after the 1st. of May.
President Joe Biden inherited the agreement that forces the United States to withdraw its troops by the end of April. The Biden government said it was reviewing the agreement and whether the Taliban kept its promises.
The stakes are high. The withdrawal would end nearly 20 years of war for the United States in Afghanistan, the longest in history, but it risks encouraging the Taliban, whose raison d’être for decades has been to expel foreign soldiers from the country.
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According to the letter reported by the TOLO, Blinken asked US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to share written proposals with the Afghan government and the Taliban to help speed up negotiations on a negotiated agreement and a ceasefire.
He also proposed asking Turkey to host a high-level meeting on both sides in the coming weeks to finalize a peace agreement.
America’s plan to enlist major powers – and Afghanistan’s neighbors – to try to secure a political settlement resembles the international approach taken at the Bonn conference after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This time, however, the Taliban would be invited to participate in the process, according to the letter.
The State Department declined to say whether any of the proposed countries agreed to participate in the UN process or whether Turkey agreed to host the meeting between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
State Department spokesman Ned Price acknowledged last Wednesday that the government was “considering a number of different ideas that could speed up the process”.
Khalilzad, a remnant of the Trump administration, spent three days in Kabul last week, where he said he discussed “various options / alternatives to drive the process forward”, before traveling to Doha, where the Taliban has a political office.
The Afghan presidential office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The success of the reported initiative is by no means guaranteed.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told NBC News on Monday that the militant group would not support any other way to resolve the Afghan conflict than outlined in the Doha agreement, the agreement that reached Washington in February 2020 under the Trump administration.
Taliban leaders have suggested there will be violence if the United States does not withdraw in time, while a bipartisan US report released last month warned that a hasty withdrawal would likely lead to a “new civil war” and allow the emergence of empowered terrorist groups.
American troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001, overthrowing the Taliban government that housed Al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/11 attacks. About 2,300 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2001 and there are currently about 2,500 American soldiers left in the war-torn country.
The letter says the United States has not ruled out any options, including the total withdrawal of troops by May 1.
FIX (March 8, 2021, 1:40 pm ET): An earlier version of this article incorrectly contains the name of the President of Afghanistan. It is Ashraf Ghani, not Ashra Ghani.
Abigail Williams and Dan De Luce reported from Washington, Saphora Smith from the United Kingdom and Mushtaq Yusufzai from Pakistan.
