Kabul: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end America’s longest war.
Blinken sought to assure senior Afghan politicians that the United States remains committed to the country despite Biden’s announcement a day earlier that the 2,500 US soldiers remaining in the country would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that led to the US invasion in 2001.
I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing to commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan, Blinken told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as they met at the presidential palace in Kabul. The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring.