- The United States has expressed concern about the new Afghan government.
- U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Brinken will hold talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
- Brinken said that the United States wants to put pressure on the new Afghan government.
As the Taliban announced the formation of a tough new government, US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken will hold talks in Germany on Wednesday with countries shaken by the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
The senior American diplomat flew out of Qatar, the largest transit hub in Afghanistan’s large-scale airlift, and went to the U.S. Air Force Base in Ramstein, Germany to visit another processing center that handled thousands of evacuees.
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Brinken will meet with German Foreign Minister Heikomas in Ramstein, and then they will lead a virtual meeting of ministers of 20 countries to discuss the way forward for Afghanistan.
The United States may seek to increase international pressure on the Taliban in order to honor their commitments and allow Afghans to leave freely.
The talks may also coordinate how to deal with the caretaker government announced on Tuesday, which has no women or non-Taliban members, including a secretary of the interior, and the United States is seeking to arrest him on terrorism charges.
‘The biggest crash’
The United States stated that it was “concerned” about the composition of the government, but would judge it based on its actions. US officials emphasized that any official recognition of the Taliban government is far away.
Like many American allies, Germany celebrated President Joe Biden’s victory over the brutal Donald Trump and the new government’s clear emphasis on cooperation with the rest of the world.
But even some close allies were critical of how Biden ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan, which led to the collapse of the Western-backed government within a few days.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling party leader and candidate to succeed her, Amin Raschelt, described the Afghanistan mission as the “biggest failure” in NATO history.
Biden has long advocated the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. He believes that the NATO mission led by the United States this week achieved the core goal of accountability for the September 11 attacks 20 years ago. The United States should not invest more blood or wealth to support it. A weak one. government.
Brinken once said that even after the longest war in the United States ends, Washington will still cooperate with allies to exert diplomatic and economic influence in Afghanistan.
Brinken told reporters in Qatar: “I think a mistake that I often make is to somehow equate anything we participate in with the number of American boots we wear uniforms on the ground.”
“We have a broader definition of what it means to participate.”
In 2019, foreign donors led by the United States provided 75% of public expenditures in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world. Since the collapse of the Western-backed government, the country’s economy has deteriorated further.
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