[The Taliban asserted responsibility for the
attack, saying it had targeted “foreign occupiers.” At least 16 people were
killed and 119 civilians injured, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi
said on Tuesday morning. Employees of the Green Village were among the dead.]
By
Siobhán O'Grady and Sharif Hassan September
 |
|
Afghan men carry an
injured girl into a hospital after a large explosion in Kabul
on Sept. 2. (Rahmat
Gul/Associated Press)
|
In an interview with Afghan news outlet
ToloNews, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad described the proposed plan as “an
agreement with the Taliban in principle” but cautioned that “it is not final
until the president of the United States also agrees to it.”
In a meeting last month, President Trump gave
Khalilzad the go-ahead to finalize such a deal.
Khalilzad, in the interview on Monday,
declined to name the U.S. bases that would be affected but noted that any
withdrawal would be contingent on the Taliban abiding by the terms of the
agreement. In exchange for the initial troop withdrawal, which would amount to
more than one-third of the U.S. troop presence in the country, the Taliban
would cut ties with al-Qaeda and provide counterterrorism guarantees.
Khalilzad also said that the draft identifies
the Taliban as the Islamic Emirate, the militant group’s preferred name. But he
said that implied no recognition of the Taliban as the legitimate government of
Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said previously that the name would identify
the Taliban as a political party.
Afghan government officials were briefed on
the draft, Khalilzad said, but they were not given copies.
“It is our agreement with the Taliban, not
their agreement with the Taliban,” he said, referring to the Afghan government.
He declined to characterize the government’s initial response.
It is not certain whether the agreement will
be finalized.
About 10 p.m. local time, toward the end of
ToloNews’s broadcast of the prerecorded Khalilzad interview, a truck bomb
exploded close to the Green Village, a compound in Kabul hosting international
groups. The blast shook the city, and small-arms fire could be heard shortly
after. When the bomb exploded, a fuel station nearby caught on fire, officials
said.
The Taliban asserted responsibility for the
attack, saying it had targeted “foreign occupiers.” At least 16 people were
killed and 119 civilians injured, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi
said on Tuesday morning. Employees of the Green Village were among the dead.
Police evacuated more than 400 foreigners
from the compound, Rahimi said, and Special Forces killed five attackers hidden
nearby.
The blast renewed fears of increased Taliban
attacks ahead of any final deal.
This week, the Taliban attacked two major
cities in northern Afghanistan, killing dozens of civilians and security
forces, even as Khalilzad said a deal was close.
Khalilzad flew to Kabul on Sunday after
announcing on Twitter that he had wrapped up the latest round of peace talks with
the Taliban in Qatar and that the two sides were on “the threshold” of a deal.
The United States and the Taliban have met for nine rounds of talks over 10
months.
Reports of the proposed partial troop
withdrawal have been met with criticism from some of Trump’s supporters,
including Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), and some national security advisers
within the administration on grounds that the Taliban cannot be trusted and the
United States would be giving up gains made during the 18-year war.
On Monday, Afghan presidential spokesman
Sediq Seddiqi told reporters here that the government would review the proposal
and offer feedback in the coming days. Khalilzad also met with Chief Executive
Abdullah Abdullah on Monday.
The Taliban has long demanded a complete
withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said
that withdrawal will be “conditions-based,” but the Trump administration is
hopeful that troops remaining after the initial drawdown will leave by late
next year.
Last week, Trump told Fox News Radio that his
administration planned to reduce troop levels to about 8,600, but he did not
offer a timeline for the withdrawal.
Afghanistan’s presidential election is
scheduled for Sept. 28, and incumbent Ashraf Ghani is up for a second term. The
vote has been postponed twice already, but critics have urged Ghani to delay
the election again, saying it could threaten the peace process. The independent
electoral commission has also warned that about 2,000 polling places will be
closed because of security issues. Abdullah, Ghani’s top challenger in the
contest, said this week that he would be willing to “quit elections for the
sake of peace.”
But on Monday, Seddiqi reaffirmed plans to
move forward with the vote.
Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to
this report.
Read
more:
