NEW YORK: The Biden administration has asked Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as a Special US Representative for Afghan reconciliation under the previous Trump Administration, to continue with his post.
“We’ve asked him to continue the vital work that he’s performing,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his first news conference since taking office. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has started the process of reviewing the peace deal with the Taliban.
Blinken further said, “One of the things that we need to understand is exactly what is in the agreements that were reached between the United States and the Taliban, to make sure that we fully understand the commitments that the Taliban has made as well as any commitments that we have made.”
Khalilzad, a political scientist born in Afghanistan, is a veteran of Republican administrations who served as US ambassador to the United Nations, Iraq and Afghanistan under former President George W Bush.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration tasked Khalilzad with negotiating with the Taliban, culminating in a deal signed in Qatar on February 29 last year. The Taliban and the Kabul government began negotiations in Doha, Qatar, in September, but violence continued in the country.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission’s (AIHRC) said on January 27 that killings of civilians rose to nearly 3,000 last year, threatening the talks, which are aimed at ending decades of conflict.
