Afghans to decide their future, says US President

Gulf Today Report

The US President Joe Biden told the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that “Afghans are going to have to decide their future, what they want, and the senseless violence, it has to stop, but it's going to be very difficult."

President Joe Biden meets with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in White House, Washington, on Friday. AP

Biden promised Afghanistan's top leaders a "sustained" partnership even as he moves to accelerate winding down the United States' longest war amid escalating Taliban violence.

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Afghan President Ghani knows that the promised help will be financial and humanitarian.

The leaders' visit to Washington comes as the Biden administration has stepped up plans for withdrawal ahead of the president’s Sept. 11 deadline to end a nearly 20-year-old war that has come with a breathtaking human cost.

Ghani told Biden that "the Taliban are not fighting against us, but Pakistan is fighting in the guise of the Taliban," according to the Afghan sources.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks to the media. File photo

In an interview to two senior editors of The New York Times’ Opinion pages, he sought a new bond with the US after Sept 11, 2021, when the United States plans to pull out all its forces from Afghanistan.

The interview was published, when US President Joe Biden had his first face-to-face meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, at the White House.

Khan also talked about his efforts to build a closer relationship with Afghanistan and improve relations with India, regretting that the current Indian government does not seem interested in normalising relations, perhaps a change of government in Delhi would help.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi speaks to the media.

Three days ago, the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi had warned Afghan President Ghani and his team in clear terms that in their meeting with Biden and his team, they must not blame Islamabad.

Qureshi in fact blamed the Daesh in Iraq and Syria for the surge in Afghan violence.

"If you try and create this impression that the violence is high because of Taliban, again, that would be an exaggeration. Why do I say that? Aren't there other elements over there who are playing the role of a spoiler?"

US Marines board a C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft headed to Kandahar at Lashkar Gah in Helmand province. File/AFP

These were Qureshi's words aired last week during an interview with Afghanistan's Tolo News network.

"They (Afghan Govt) can say whatever they want but the US knows Pakistan's role very well in the peace process and the world is obvious to our role", says Qureshi.