US President Biden to meet Afghan leaders as last remaining troops prepare to leave

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his former political foe, Abdullah Abdullah, on Friday to discuss Washington's support for Afghanistan as the last US troops pack up after 20 years of war.

The Oval Office meeting may be as valuable to Ghani for its symbolism as for any new US help because it will be seen as affirming Biden's support for the beleaguered Afghan leader as he confronts Taliban gains, bombings and assassinations, a surge in COVID-19 cases and political infighting in Kabul.

"At a time when morale is incredibly shaky and things are going downhill, anything one can do to help shore up morale and shore up the government is worth doing," said Ronald Neumann, a former US ambassador to Kabul. "Inviting Ghani here is a pretty strong sign that we're backing him."

Biden's embrace, however, comes only months after US officials were pressuring Ghani to step aside for a transitional government under a draft political accord that they floated in a failed gambit to break a stalemate in peace talks.

Hours before the talks, Biden said on Twitter that he looked forward to the meeting and that "as the US military drawdown continues, we affirm our enduring support for the Afghan people."

He has asked Congress to approve $3.3 billion in security assistance for Afghanistan next year and is sending 3 million doses of vaccines there to help it battle COVID-19.

Biden will urge Ghani and Abdullah, foes in Afghanistan's two last presidential elections, "to be a united front" and he will reaffirm US support for a negotiated peace deal, said White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

US officials, however, have been clear that Biden will not halt the American pullout — likely to be completed by late July or early August — and he is unlikely to approve any US military support to Kabul beyond advice, intelligence, and aircraft maintenance.

Before heading to meet Biden, Ghani and Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, met at the Pentagon with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top US civilian and military officials.

Austin reaffirmed continued US security aid to Afghanistan, according to a pool report from the opening of the talks.

Speaking of a "new phase" in the US-Afghan relationship, Ghani asserted that the "narrative of abandonment is just false," and that his forces have made "significant progress" even though the situation "presents challenges," the pool report said.

Earlier, the Afghan leaders met for a second day on Capitol Hill, where Biden's withdrawal decision met objections from many members of both parties.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, welcoming Ghani to a bipartisan leadership meeting, said she looked forward to hearing about what more can be done with US humanitarian aid, especially for women and girls.

Worries about Al Qaeda

The Ghani-Abdullah visit comes with the peace process stalled and violence raging as Afghan security forces fight to stem unrest that threatens several provincial capitals and has triggered mobilisations of ethnic militias to reinforce government troops.

The crisis has fueled grave concerns of a resurgence of Al Qaeda.

"The Pentagon and the intelligence community are saying it is very likely that Al Qaeda will come roaring back. It is very likely that our soldiers and our troops may have to go back into Afghanistan," said US Representative Mike Waltz, a former Army officer who commanded US Special Forces in Afghanistan.

US officials respond that the United States will be able to detect and thwart any new threats by Al Qaeda or other militants.

The Taliban have said that Al Qaeda is no longer in Afghanistan.

US government sources familiar with US intelligence reporting describe the situation as dire. Ghani, they said, has been urged to do more to step up pressure on the insurgents while US-led coalition forces are still there.

Biden, who pledged to end America's "forever wars," announced in April that all US forces would be out of Afghanistan by the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Al Qaeda on the United States.

He made the decision even though a 2020 US-Taliban deal forged under former President Donald Trump set May 1 as the US pullout deadline.