Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani arrives in Washington on June 24, 2021
Washington D.C.: Amidst speculations over whether the USA declare a true end to the war if the U.S. is planning to keep 650 troops in Afghanistan besides several hundred additional troops to maintain security at the Kabul airport, President Joe Biden told the visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that he would continue to provide assistance to the latter “to promote a peaceful and stable future that the Afghan people want and deserve”.
Ghani’s visit at a time when the fight with Taliban has intensified in Afghanistan at the backdrop of the approaching deadline of USA troops from his country assumes much larger significance. Just before the bilateral meeting on June 25, 2021, Ghani informed Biden that “Today, the Afghan Defense and Security Forces have retaken six districts, both in the south and the north. It’s showing our determination. So I hope that nobody does the Bernard Shaw on us — exaggerating our death before something has happened”.
President Ghani who had left Kabul for an official visit to the United States at the top of a high-ranking state delegation had arrived in Washington on June 24, 2021 afternoon.
The White House stated here that the United States continues to use its full diplomatic, economic, and assistance toolkit to support a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, and Press Secretary Jen Psaki, while replying to a pointed question in this regard, said on June 25, 2021, that “The President was clear from the beginning that we anticipated and planned to have a diplomatic presence on the ground. And so he’s doing exactly that”.
President Biden welcomed Afghanistan President Ghani and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Dr. Abdullah Abdullah to the White House on June 25, 2021 to discuss “enduring United States support, including through security assistance to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, development and humanitarian assistance to support the Afghan people, and diplomatic engagement in support of peace”.
The US President said that while “it’s good to have them here in the White House”, the visiting Afghan leaders had a chance to meet with “all the major players of the administration — from the Secretary of Defense, to the CIA — across the board”.
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President Biden emphasized during the meeting, enduring United States support for the Afghan people, including Afghan women, girls, and minorities, through civilian, development, and humanitarian aid, as well as the continued provision of security assistance to support Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.
“The partnership between Afghanistan and the United States is not ending. It’s — it’s going to be sustained. And, you know, our troops may be leaving, but support for Afghanistan is not ending, in terms of support and maintenance of their — helping maintain their military, as well as economic and political support,” Biden told Ghani before the bilateral meeting.
Biden, Ghani, and Dr. Abdullah concurred on the need for unity among Afghan leaders in support of peace and stability, and President Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to fully support intra-Afghan negotiations. The U.S. and Afghan leaders firmly agreed that although U.S. troops are leaving Afghanistan, the strong bilateral partnership will continue.
“President Biden’s decision has been historic. It has made everybody recalculate and reconsider. We are here to respect it and support it…we are entering into a new chapter of our relationship where the partnership with the United States would not be military, but comprehensive, regarding our mutual interest. And we’re very encouraged and satisfied that this partnership is taking place. Thank you for ordering the priorities,” Ghani told Biden.
A White House statement referred to the USA’s “strong support and partnership”, which it said “is designed to prevent Afghanistan from ever again being used as a safe haven for terrorism; maintain Afghan stability and build self-reliance; promote economic growth; preserve social gains in education, health and women’s empowerment and the rule of law; protect the rights of women, girls, and minorities; bolster Afghan civil society; and respond to humanitarian needs”.
When asked about the safety of American nationals as well as the Afghans and what would be the USA’s stand in case Afghanistan falls to the Taliban, Psaki said: “When the President made this announcement, he was very clear that if we did not pull our troops — withdraw our troops from — from Afghanistan — something that he has long talked about having an interest and a desire to do — the Taliban would have been shooting at U.S. troops again on May 1st.” She added: “That’s a decision he had to make as President. So the withdrawal deadline negotiated — because of the withdrawal deadline negotiated, I should say, by the prior administration. So his fundamental belief is that after 20 years, it’s time to bring our troops home. We’re doing that in a timely and orderly fashion, led by the Department of Defense. And we had to make sure we were taking steps — if we had left our troops there, they would be in harm’s way. That was a step we had to take.”
When pressed to reply to what if the Taliban takes over, Psaki said, ” Well, again, we have — I’m not going to get ahead of or anticipate. We are — we have a range of capacities, including over-the-horizon capacities and capabilities that we will maintain in place. The President announced that at the beginning of his announcement.”
Asserting that the USA will keep mobilizing diplomatic support for peace and stability in Afghanistan, the White House reiterated that the best way to protect each other’s interests “is through an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led negotiated settlement”. It pointed out that following intensive efforts by the State Department and a number of key allies and partners of the US, formal Afghanistan Peace Negotiations started last year for the first time since 2001. “We continue to urge all Afghan parties to engage urgently and meaningfully in peace talks aimed at achieving a just and durable settlement that includes protections for the rights of all Afghans, including women and minorities.”
The USA’s Department of Defense’s Afghanistan Security Forces Fund (ASFF) will continue to provide security assistance to Afghanistan and provide financial support to the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghan Air Force and the Afghan Special Security Forces, including the Special Mission Wing. Congress appropriated over $3 billion to ASFF in 2021 and President Biden has requested over $3.3 billion for 2022.
Moreover, since 2002, the United States has provided nearly $88 billion in security assistance, $36 billion in civilian assistance, including $787 million specifically intended to support Afghan women and girls, and nearly $3.9 billion in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Besides, the USA called upon its partners in support of the Afghan people. “Building on the broad international support for the Afghan people, the United States will encourage our partners to continue their security and development assistance, including through the Afghan National Army Trust Fund (ANATF), Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). The United States will also work closely with other major donors to ensure continued development and humanitarian assistance to help the Afghan people,” the White House stated.
The White House highlighted the assistance that it will continue to provide to Afghanistan to promote peace and stability in the country: This includes:
Providing COVID-19 vaccines to the Afghan people: The United States will donate three million doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine to the people of Afghanistan through COVAX. COVAX is working to ship those doses to Afghanistan.
Providing critical emergency medical assistance to respond to the COVID-19 crisis: USAID has ordered over 300 oxygen cylinders and several months’ worth of ventilator consumables to be shipped to Afghanistan as quickly as possible. Additionally, USAID plans to install oxygen plants in four hospitals that will serve smaller facilities in the surrounding areas. USAID previously announced that they are investing $3.7 million to train clinicians to manage severe cases in the five hardest hit urban cities and provide critical expertise for vaccine deployment.
Providing needed assistance to help with the pandemic’s impacts: This is in addition to in the past year, the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have provided $40 million to directly help Afghanistan respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, expedited $90 million in other COVID-related development assistance through the World Bank, and reoriented other U.S. development assistance to support Afghan efforts to deal with the pandemic’s consequences. And, USAID recently committed $38 million in emergency COVID-19 supplemental funding to the UN World Food Program (WFP) to address the food and nutrition needs of approximately 1.2 million COVID-impacted vulnerable people in Afghanistan. WFP will reach over a million people most affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19 with in-kind food assistance to help them meet their food needs for four months. Additionally, with this funding, WFP will reach more than 164,000 children and nearly 28,000 pregnant and lactating women with essential moderate acute malnutrition treatment.
Contributing lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Afghans in need: The U.S. recently announced more than $266 million in new humanitarian assistance to address the pressing needs of an estimated 18 million people in Afghanistan, including more than 4.8 million internally displaced Afghans.
Sustaining development assistance to support a secure, stable, unified, democratic, and self-reliant Afghanistan that is at peace with itself and its neighbours: The United States has recently announced an additional $300 million in civilian assistance for Afghanistan in 2021 through both the Department of State and USAID. President Biden has also requested an additional $364 million in development assistance for the State Department and USAID for 2022.
The USA also referred to the appointment of a French diplomat, Jean Arnault as the United Nations Secretary General’s personal representative on Afghanistan and regional issues, and said the appointment reflected the critical role of the United Nations in bringing together Afghan sides and regional stakeholders to end Afghanistan’s more than 40-year war.
Besides, it may be mentioned that most of Afghanistan also faces extreme or severe drought conditions and the Afghan government officially declared so on June 22, 2021. This has been the second drought to affect the troubled country in four years. Already it has been facing a food insecurity and malnutrition crisis, compounded by a La Niña weather event. Nearly a third of the country is facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity. And nearly half of all children under 5 are expected to face acute malnutrition.
In addition to the drought, escalating conflict and a devastating new wave of COVID-19 have increased humanitarian needs and vulnerability. This year, almost half of the population of Afghanistan, 18.4 million people, is in humanitarian need. In the face of rising needs, $1.3 billion is required to help almost 16 million people through 2021 in Afghanistan. Halfway into the year, only 23 per cent of required funds have been received.
Ghani told Biden during their meeting, “Let us understand that in moments of great transition, things happen. But you will see that with determination, with unity, and with the partnership, we will overcome all odds. Thank you, Mr. President.”
– global bihari bureau
