Iran Press/ Asia: Ashraf Ghani added that the continuation of the war in Afghanistan is not justified after the withdrawal of American troops.
In a piece penned by Ghani and published by Foreign Affairs magazine on Tuesday, the Afghan president called President Biden's move to withdraw US forces from the country after nearly 20 years "a turning point."
"President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw the remaining 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan by September represents a turning point for the country and our neighbors," Ghani writes. "The Afghan government respects the decision and views it as a moment of both opportunity and risk for itself, for Afghans, for the Taliban, and for the region."
However, he also says that the US and NATO funding of security forces in the nation could be the "single most important contribution" that can be made internationally to help with peace in the country.
At the same time, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the United States is ready to draw down its forces from Afghanistan.
"But we’ve also been clear that even as our forces are drawing down and pulling out of Afghanistan, we are not withdrawing, we are not disengaging. We intend to be very active diplomatically in terms of trying to advance negotiations and a political settlement between the Government of Afghanistan, the Taliban, and other key parties. We intend to sustain our assistance to Afghanistan, including development, economic, humanitarian; our support for Afghanistan’s security forces as well," Blinken told a joint news conference with his British counterpart in London ahead of the G7 summit.
"With regard to Afghanistan, as we work toward the decision that President Biden made, we spent a good deal of time very actively consulting with our NATO partners and NATO Allies," he added.
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