US defense chief makes surprise visit to Afghanistan
March 22, 2021
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made an unannounced visit to Kabul amid a looming deadline for Washington's final troop withdrawal from the country. He discussed the spike in violence there with President Ghani.
Image: Presidential Palace/AP/picture alliance
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US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday weeks ahead of Washington's final troop pullback, scheduled under a deal reached with the Taliban last year.
The Pentagon chief held talks with President Ashraf Ghani and other senior officials in Kabul.
According to the Afghan presidential palace, the two sides condemned the increase in violence in the war-battered country and stressed on the need for a durable and just peace process to address the current situation there.
"It's obvious that the level of violence remains pretty high in the country," Austin said. "We'd really like to see that violence come down and I think if it does come down, it can begin to set the conditions for, you know, some really fruitful diplomatic work."
Austin, who was touring Asia this week, arrived in Afghanistan after visiting Japan, South Korea and India.
The defense secretary's Kabul visit comes shortly after US President Joe Biden said last week that the May 1 deadline for troop withdrawal, agreed by his predecessor Donald Trump, would be "tough" to meet.
Reacting to Biden's remarks, the Taliban warned Washington of "consequences" if US soldiers were to stay beyond the deadline.
"It will be a kind of violation of the agreement. That violation would not be from our side. ... Their violation will have a reaction,'' Suhail Shaheen from the Taliban negotiation team told reporters on Friday.
Last year, the Trump administration and the Taliban had reached a deal in Doha, Qatar, wherein the US vowed to call back all US and international forces from Afghanistan. The Taliban, in exchange, promised to cut ties with terrorist groups like the al-Qaida and sit at the table for the intra-Afghan peace talks.
President Biden's administration, however, is reassessing the troop pullback.
There was no mention of the May 1 limit during Sunday's talks and while speaking to reporters later Austin refused to comment on the issue.
"That's the domain of my boss," he told reporters.
"That's the ... decision that the President (Biden) will make at some point in time, in terms of how he wants to approach this going forward."
Austin, a retired four-star general, was deployed in Afghanistan as commander of the 10th Mountain Division.
He was also at the helm of the US Central Command from 2013 to 2016.
Endless battle for power in Afghanistan
Seventeen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the war-torn country remains in the grip of Islamist violence. A string of deadly attacks in the last year suggests militants are stronger than ever.
Image: picture alliance/Photoshot
Fragile security
Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
Image: Reuters/M. Ismail
A long series of attacks
The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Hossaini
Spring offensive
In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.
Image: Reuters
Trump's Afghanistan policy
US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Smialowski
Afghan peace process
Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Shirzad
Pakistani support
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.
Image: DW/H. Hamraz
Role of the warlords
Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.
Image: Reuters/O.Sobhani
An inefficient government
In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism.
