Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad presented his letter of resignation to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the US State Department announced in a statement. Khalizad will be succeeded by Tom West, his deputy.
The senior ambassador for Afghanistan in the Biden administration resigned from his post less than two months after the failed U.S. military departure from the country.
Khalizad, an Afghan-American who served as Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation under both President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden, tendered his resignation because the United States was at a juncture when we are entering a new phase in our Afghanistan policy.
Khalizad was instrumental in brokering the Doha Agreement, which committed the Trump administration to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.
A permanent ceasefire was mandated by the Doha Agreement, which stipulated that the Taliban would participate in talks with the U.S.-backed Afghan government while also agreeing to preserve peace between the two parties.
If the Taliban fails to live up to this promise, the United States will not remove its troops from the nation, as previously said.
However, when the Taliban toppled the Afghan government in August, they did not follow through on their promise because the administration of Vice President Joe Biden was in charge.
In a statement released soon after, Vice President Joe Biden stated that the United States will remove all soldiers from Afghanistan, despite the Taliban's continued refusal to comply with the Doha Declaration.
What do you think of his resignation? Let me know in the comments.
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