Biden could be preparing to ‘upgrade ties’ with Kabul: WPR

KABUL (Agencies): A former US diplomat and current professor at the City University of New York, Annie Pforzheimer, in a piece for World Politics Review wrote that the “administration of US President Joe Biden has quietly begun to soften Washington’s stance on the Taliban as a sponsor of terrorism, despite an authoritative report by United Nations experts in June 2023 noting the strong and symbiotic links between the Taliban, the Haqqani network, al-Qaida and other terror groups.”
She wrote that the ongoing US consultation with “Taliban authorities at a technical level, based on the reality of the group’s physical control of Afghanistan, is necessary to advance specific and urgent interests, such as the release of US hostages and out-migration of Afghans processed for US residency.” But additional and relatively senior overtures to the Islamic leadership, she said, “would require a shift in the policy landscape.”
Political analyst Torek Farhadi called for the removal of economic sanctions on Afghanistan.
“What the Biden administration is doing, we don’t know about it but the economic sanctions should be lifted on Afghanistan because with the return of the refugees, the suffering of the people has increased,” he said.
However, the Islamic Emirate said that it doesn’t want conflict with any country and that it wants to have good relations with all countries including the US.
“In the Doha agreement, it was indicated that Afghanistan and the US should have good relations in the future, so the negative impact of the war time is eliminated. A new chapter based on multilateral cooperation should be opened,” Mujahid said. Ahmad Khan Andar, political analyst, said that the US had provided mass aid to Afghanistan during the past two-years.

“The US during the past two-years, when the Islamic Emirate was ruling here, it [US] was investigating the political situation of our country. The US is attempting to have a strategic friend in the area,” said Ahmad Khan Andari, political analyst.

This comes as earlier the acting Defense Minister, Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, called the US the main obstacle ahead of the recognition of the Islamic Emirate.