Zalmay Khalilzad, Biden’s Envoy for Afghanistan, Steps Down

WASHINGTON — Zalmay Khalilzad, President Biden’s envoy for Afghanistan and a uncommon Trump appointee to stay successful the caller administration, is departing from the government, the State Department said connected Monday.

Mr. Khalilzad, 70, who was calved successful Afghanistan and grew up successful the capital, Kabul, was a seasoned of past Republican administrations who helped President George W. Bush program the overthrow of the Taliban successful 2002, and past negotiated with Taliban leaders the presumption of America’s humbling and yet tumultuous exit from the state astir 20 years later.

After President Donald J. Trump appointed him successful September 2018 to prosecute bid negotiations with the Taliban, Mr. Khalilzad spent overmuch of the pursuing 18 months successful Doha, Qatar, gathering with Taliban representatives to trade an agreement, signed successful February 2020, nether which the Trump medication committed to the afloat withdrawal of American troops that Mr. Biden completed successful August.

To his critics, Mr. Khalilzad enabled a bid process that was small much than a fig leafage for Mr. Trump’s determination to exit Afghanistan swiftly, with small respect for the destiny of its authorities oregon people. In caller interviews, Mr. Khalilzad has argued that helium did not acceptable wide U.S. argumentation and extracted arsenic galore concessions arsenic helium could from Taliban leaders.

In an Oct. 18 resignation missive to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, successful which helium said helium would measurement down connected Tuesday, Mr. Khalilzad said that helium was asked to articulation the Trump medication “after the determination had been made to substantially trim oregon extremity the subject and economical load of the Afghan engagement connected the U.S. and to escaped those resources for captious priorities, including home needs and the situation of dealing with issues related to China.”

Mr. Khalilzad, who agelong supported the imaginativeness of a much modernized, pluralistic and antiauthoritarian Afghanistan, lamented successful his missive that “the governmental statement betwixt the Afghan authorities and the Taliban did not spell guardant arsenic envisaged.”

“The reasons for this are excessively analyzable and I volition stock my thoughts successful the coming days and weeks, aft leaving authorities service,” helium wrote.

As the Taliban stormed done the state successful August, capturing metropolis aft city, Mr. Khalilzad continued to negociate with its leaders, urging them to negociate a peaceful governmental modulation and governmental power-sharing statement with the Afghan government. He was incapable to bash truthful earlier President Ashraf Ghani fled the state connected Aug. 15, saying helium feared for his life.

During the 2016 statesmanlike campaign, Mr. Khalilzad introduced Mr. Trump earlier a overseas argumentation code hosted by the Center for the National Interest, with which Mr. Khalilzad was affiliated, and was rewarded with the Afghanistan envoy station nether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Many Democrats assumed that Mr. Khalilzad would permission authorities astatine the extremity of the Trump administration, but Mr. Blinken asked him to stay successful his job, with the authoritative rubric of peculiar envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation.

Mr. Blinken valued Mr. Khalilzad’s heavy familiarity with Taliban leaders arsenic the Biden medication continued to negociate the presumption of America’s subject exit. Mr. Khalilzad besides benefited from his narration with Mr. Biden, whom helium hosted during visits to Afghanistan erstwhile helium was ambassador and Mr. Biden a senator.

In a connection connected Monday, Mr. Blinken thanked Mr. Khalilzad for his “decades of work to the American people.” Mr. Blinken said that Mr. Khalilzad’s deputy, Tom West, would go the State Department’s peculiar typical for Afghanistan.

Understand the Taliban Takeover successful Afghanistan

Mr. Khalilzad has already begun to ruminate successful nationalist connected however the U.S. task successful Afghanistan failed truthful badly.

In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine published past month, helium said the conception that helium made the determination to retreat each American troops from the state “boggles the mind,” and joked that helium was flattered astatine the thought that helium was the mastermind of the U.S. exit.

He said important questions helium would ponder included whether America’s “ambitions were excessively ample compared to the strategy and resources” and whether Washington “should person pushed harder for a governmental colony earlier.”

And helium yet pointed a digit astatine the Afghan authorities for failing to travel to presumption with a increasing world implicit the past respective years.

“I deliberation that the expansive miscalculation of the Afghan enactment was this: that we were not going to leave,” helium said.