US ENVOY FOR AFGHANISTAN ZALMAY KHALILZAD WHO BROKERED AFGHANISTAN PULLOUT, RESIGNS

Tue 19 October 2021:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday that Zalmay Khalilzad, US President Joe Biden’s special envoy for Afghanistan, is stepping down.

The top US diplomat thanked Khalilzad for his efforts and extended his “gratitude for his decades of service to the American people.”

Thomas West, Khalilzad’s former deputy, will assume the role of Special Representative for Afghanistan, according to Blinken.

“Special Representative West, who served on then-Vice President Biden’s national security team and on the National Security Council staff, will lead diplomatic efforts, advise the Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and coordinate closely with the U.S. Embassy Kabul presence in Doha on America’s interests in Afghanistan,” he said.

Thomas West is a longtime aide to Biden, serving on his staff when he was vice president. West has worked for years on South Asia policy including on the US-India civilian nuclear deal.

Shortly before Khalilzad’s resignation became public, the State Department said the United States would not be able to attend a new session called Tuesday by Russia that also includes China and Pakistan, historically the Taliban’s primary backer.

Khalilzad served as the top US envoy for Afghanistan under both the Trump and Biden administration and was the architect behind the bilateral deal that President Donald Trump struck with the Taliban in which Washington agreed to exit Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for the Taliban’s vow not to attack US forces.

The agreement was widely criticized for ignoring the since deposed Afghan government, and Biden extended the withdrawal deadline through August.

Khalilzad’s decision to step down from office comes a month and a half after the US completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan amid the Taliban offensive that led to the government’s ouster. The hectic exit saw the US ferry over 120,000 people out of Afghanistan as the Taliban laid claim to the capital, Kabul.

In interviews last month, Khalilzad said that he had reached a deal with the Taliban in which the insurgents would stay out of Kabul and negotiate a political transition.

But Khalilzad said the deal collapsed when President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on 15 August and the Taliban saw a security vacuum.

Speaking to Foreign Policy, Khalilzad said that the Taliban fulfilled key parts of the February 2020 agreement including not attacking the departing US troops.

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