(PresidentialWire.com)- A meeting between President Joe Biden and Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, will take place at the White House this week.
On Friday, the two world leaders will discuss the United States’ withdrawal of troops from the region as fighting between the Taliban and Afghanistan picks up.
This will be the first meeting between the two leaders in-person. Also attending the meeting will be Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the country’s High Council for National Reconciliation.
In a statement, the White House said Biden is planning to tell the two leaders that the U.S. will continue to support the people of Afghanistan with economic, humanitarian and diplomat assistance. The president will also apparently ensure the leaders that Afghanistan won’t ever become a “safe haven” for more terrorist groups.
In a statement, the White House said:
“The visit by President Ghani and Dr. Abdullah will highlight the enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan as the military drawdown continues.”
Since just April, the Taliban has been able to seize at least 30 districts in Afghanistan. That followed Biden’s announcement that month that all U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11.
Since then, the Taliban has worked hard to expand its influence over Afghanistan as the U.S. started to withdraw troops on May 1. America even closed some of their military bases, handing them to the Afghan government to control.
The Taliban has also ramped up their rhetoric in the media. They called the upcoming talks between Biden, Ghani and Abdullah “useless.” Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said:
“They (Ghani and Abdullah) will talk with U.S. officials for preservation of their power and personal interest. It won’t benefit Afghanistan.”
A senior official in the Afghan government said Ghani would be seeking U.S. assurances that it would continue to support security forces in Afghanistan even after American troops are fully gone from the region.
Representatives from the Afghan government and Taliban have been trying to come to an agreement recently, with talks in Qatar, but that hasn’t produced any meaningful resolution as of yet.
Officials in the Afghan government have said the Taliban hasn’t submitted a written proposal for peace that could even be used as a starting point for realistic talks.
In the wake of Biden making his surprise decision to withdrawal all troops from Afghanistan so quickly, he was criticized by many who said it would be harmful to vulnerable people in the region.
Even many intelligence analysts in the U.S. said the Taliban “would roll back much” of any progress that was made for women’s rights in Afghanistan if they were to regain power on a national level — which they are actively working on.
In addition, Afghan people who were working for the U.S. while American troops were in the country are fearful that a Taliban insurgency would target them as well as their families as part of retribution for helping foreign governments.
