US has 'unfinished business' in Afghanistan, opted 'calendar-based' pullout: Khalilzad

Former special United States envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said that Washington “still has unfinished business" in the war-ravaged country under Taliban's control. In an interview with Fox News, while talking about the Taliban takeover of the South Asian nation, Khalilzad even noted that US President Joe Biden selected a ‘calendar-based’ withdrawal from the foreign nation as opposed to the ‘condition-based’ agreement agreed by his predecessor Donald Trump’s administration. 

The former US envoy to Afghanistan flagged concerns over the recent turn of events involving the United States, Afghanistan and Taliban and said, “We were turning our back and not doing what we needed to do to protect the American interests still in Afghanistan.” Khalilzad told the media outlet on ‘The Story with Martha MacCallum' on Friday, “The agreement that we made - which was condition-based under…[former President Donald] Trump['s] administration - some of those conditions have not materialised.”

“The Taliban have not implemented those. We want to hold the Taliban accountable for those agreements. …I advocated that rather than disengaging, we need to press the Taliban to negotiate and reach an agreement on the implementation of the remaining parts dealing with terrorism…[and] the establishment of a broad-based government,” he added.

Terrorism would fester in ungoverned Afghanistan: Ex-envoy

Khalilzad has also argued that even though the Biden administration is “concerned” about tackling terrorism, the extremist forces would fester in an ungoverned environment if Afghanistan falls apart under Taliban rule. He said that the Biden administration is refraining from round table talks with the Taliban because of its perception as a terrorist group.

The former US ambassador to the United Nations (UN) has also said that the Taliban “want[s] normalcy in relations” with America and the “funds of Afghanistan and the [US] to be unfrozen.” Khalilzad has also confirmed that the Taliban allowed the United States to “secure … Kabul as part of the [US'] exit agreement.” The former US envoy noted that General Frank Mckenzie had said in a Doha meeting that his “mandate” was not to secure Kabul but to evacuate almost 2,500 American troops left in the country. 

Weighing in on the Biden administration’s withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, a move which has already triggered a wide-range criticism, Khalilzad said that the US President chose the calendar-based pullout over Trump’s condition-based strategy. He further quelled concerns that terror entities such as Al-Qaeda or ISIS could attack the United States in the near future while noting that so far, the Taliban has upheld its commitment “not to allow … plotting and planning by al Qaeda and other groups” against Washington.

(IMAGE: AP)