Austin is visiting Afghanistan, amid questions about the timing of the US forces’ withdrawal.

On his first visit since assuming his post at the head of the “Pentagon”, Defense Minister Lloyd Austin inspected his country’s forces deployed in Afghanistan and held talks with senior Afghan officials. At the head of which is President Ashraf Ghani in the capital, Kabul, amid questions about the decisions that the administration of President Joe Biden will make about the period of permanence of US soldiers in this country.
The previously unannounced visit came after Austin ended the talks in India and was heading back to the United States. News of Austin’s arrival spread; The senior American official, first to Kabul, through the state-owned Afghanistan radio and television and the famous Afghan station “Tolo.” Austin was expected to meet with Ghani and the newly appointed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Yassin Zia, who was appointed acting defense minister this week. The Biden administration is reviewing the deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban last year.
Austin, a retired four-star general, stopped in Afghanistan, his first return to an American war zone since assuming his new position at the “Pentagon,” noting that he spent a lot of time in the region while serving as head of the army, and also served in Afghanistan as commander of the 10th “Mountain Unit.” From 2013 to 2016, he was commander of the US Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
President Biden said last week that it would be “difficult” for the United States to meet the May 1 deadline for withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan. But he stressed that if the term, set in an agreement between the administration of former President Donald Trump and the “Taliban” movement, is extended, it will not be “much longer.”
The “Taliban” responded to this, warning of the consequences of the United States not meeting the deadline. A member of the movement’s negotiating team, Suhail Shaheen, said that if US forces stayed after May 1, “it would be a kind of violation of the agreement.” This violation will not be on our part. There will be a reaction to your violation. “
The “Taliban” repeated their warnings to the United States not to challenge the deadline the day after the meeting organized by Moscow last week, with senior Afghan government negotiators and international observers to try to stimulate the stalled peace process to end decades. war in Afghanistan. Washington has presented an eight-page peace proposal to both the Taliban and the Afghan government, who are now reviewing it. Calls for the formation of an interim “peace government” leading Afghanistan towards constitutional reform and elections. Ghani has resisted establishing an interim administration, leading his critics to accuse him of clinging to power. It emphasizes that elections alone will be acceptable to provoke a change of government.
In a strong message to Ghani this month, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said peace in Afghanistan was urgent, noting that all options remained on the table. He warned of the possibility of the Taliban making quick regional gains if US forces and NATO withdraw, noting that the United States also spends $ 4 billion annually to support Afghan national security forces.
And both the US administration and the Afghan government called for a reduction in violence to reach a ceasefire. As for the “Taliban”, they promise that a ceasefire will be part of the peace negotiations. The movement has not attacked US or NATO forces since the agreement was signed. However, US and NATO military commanders have argued that the Taliban have failed to adhere to their part of the peace agreement, which includes reducing violence and breaking away from al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month that the alliance “will leave only when the time is right” and when conditions are met. “The main issue is that (the Taliban) must reduce violence, (the Taliban) must negotiate in good faith and (the Taliban) must stop supporting international terrorist groups like (Al Qaeda),” he added.
Austin didn’t say much in the records about the ongoing stalemate. After a hypothetical meeting of NATO defense ministers, he declared that “our presence in Afghanistan depends on circumstances, and he (the Taliban) must fulfill his obligations.”