US Relying On 'Political Solution' For Afghanistan's Future as Taliban Once Again Sweep Across Country
Taliban make startling gains as American troops begin to withdraw after nearly 20 years
US troops in Afghanistan have begun the withdrawal that President Biden promised earlier this year.
However, as Biden works to wind-down the longest armed conflict in US history, the Taliban have made a surprising resurgence across Afghanistan. US forces dislodged the Muslim extremist group from power in that isolated nation nearly 20 years ago in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — as the Taliban was giving safe refuge to the mastermind of those attacks: Osama bin Laden.
US troops have been a part of the Afghan landscape ever since, leaving many to term US involvement in Afghanistan as America's “forever war.”
However, without US protection, more and more of Afghanistan is falling back into the hands of the hardline Taliban, who have shown little interest in upholding civil or human rights — especially for women and girls.
The United States is calling for an end to the violence in Afghanistan, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.
“We have continued to call for an end to the ongoing violence, which of course has been driven largely by the Taliban. A negotiated settlement between the parties – in this case, the Islamic Republic and the Taliban – is the only way to end 40 years of war and to bring to Afghanistan the peace that the Afghan people both want and deserve,” Price said in a news briefing Tuesday. “That’s why we continue to urge all sides to engage in serious negotiations to determine a political roadmap that leads to what we have called for all along and what the international community has called for all along, and that is a just and durable political settlement.
“What we know is that the world will not accept an imposition by force of a government in Afghanistan. The legitimacy of any future Afghan government, the ability of that government to receive international assistance – which will be of critical importance – the durability of any future Afghan government can only be possible if that government has a basic respect for human rights,” he added.
Intra-Afghan dialogue
In addition, representatives of the Taliban continue to negotiate diplomatically in Doha, Qatar, with their counterparts in the Afghan government, Price noted.
“It is absolutely true that a political solution is the only way, again, to achieve that just and durable outcome that all parties want and all parties seem to understand is the only end to 40 years of conflict,” he said. “It’s also true, again, that any government that comes to power at the barrel of a gun, through force, is not one that will have popular support, it is not one that will accrue assistance from the international community, it is not one that will have international legitimacy.
“And for all those reasons, it is almost certainly not one that will have durability. And what we seek, again, is a just and durable political outcome, and only through dialogue – in this case intra-Afghan dialogue – can that be achieved,” Price added.