The telegraph
The United States warns the Afghan government to consider new peace proposals or to face the withdrawal of troops on May 1
The United States has warned the Afghan president that he may face a new spring attack by the Taliban without U.S. troops, unless he considers new urgent proposals to try to start stalled negotiations. A full withdrawal of American troops is still being considered, despite Joe Biden’s hopes at the White House to prevent the withdrawal, according to a leaked letter from the new secretary of state. In what appeared to be a blunt attempt to pressure Ashraf Ghani, Antony Blinken wrote that without US troops he was concerned “the security situation would worsen and that the Taliban could achieve rapid territorial gains”. He asked Ghani to show to show “. Urgent leadership” and he hoped the Afghan Prime Minister “would understand the urgency of my tone.” The veiled threat came amid intense American frustration that the Doha negotiation process, which lasted a year, almost got nowhere, while the deadline for withdrawing US troops is fast approaching. Biden is currently evaluating whether to withdraw all troops by May 1, as agreed in Donald Trump’s withdrawal pact with the Taliban, or to extend the deployment to allow more time for peace negotiations to move forward. Washington believes the Taliban did not end the deal by not cutting back on violence and staying close to al-Qaeda. But he also became frustrated by the intransigence in Kabul. Michael Kugelman, deputy director for Asia at the Wil Son Center think tank, said: “In a skeptical reading of the letter, the US is reading Ghani, the riot act:” Help us do these things now, because we can be leaving in just a few weeks. “In a more optimistic analysis, America was saying” This will not be easy. You will need to make sacrifices. But we will do this before it is too late, “he said. Afghanistan is gearing up for the start of the annual Taliban spring offensive, as the morale of Afghan forces has plummeted. The number of US soldiers has already dropped from 14,000 a year ago to about 2,500 now, denying beleaguered Afghan forces critical air strikes and surveillance drones. Troops have been struggling to reverse Taliban offensives in Lashkar Gah and Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, and roads between major cities are increasingly being hit by the Taliban. According to the letter, the United States is pursuing high-level diplomatic efforts “to move the issues more fundamentally and quickly towards a permanent and comprehensive agreement and ceasefire.” An international conference in Turkey will be held within weeks, bringing together envoys from Iran, Pakistan, China and India to endorse an interim government with the Taliban. Any transition administration would likely mean the end of the Ghani government and the resignation of an officially recognized government internati. Ghani’s vice president, Amrullah Saleh, said on Monday that the country “would never accept a forced and enforced peace” Roland Kobia, the EU envoy to Afghanistan, also seemed to question the US approach, saying that Afghanistan had their own constitution, elections and agreements. “[Afghanistan] it has the support of the vast majority of the international community and the world on the UN security council, and Geneva has pledged to protect its republic from conquests ”. Washington also resorted to threats last year to try to get Ghani and his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, to end their rivalry over the outcome of a contested presidential election. At the time, Mike Pompeo cut $ 1 billion in aid to Kabul after the two men held rival openings. The Telegraph View: Afghanistan will be Biden’s first major foreign policy test