Blinken tells House Committee no decision yet on troops withdrawal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington has not completed its review on troop posture in Afghanistan but that it is also focusing on diplomatic efforts to get the Afghan government and the Taliban to engage in negotiations.

Addressing a House Committee on Foreign Affairs session on Wednesday, Blinken said he does not want to “prejudge the outcome of that review” as there hasn’t been any decision made yet on troops when it comes to May 1st deadline.

But he said US President Joe Biden’s “goal is very clear.”

He said: “It’s to end the conflict, bring our troops home and to ensure that Afghanistan does not become a haven for terrorism and an ongoing threat to the United States.”

“We’re engaged in a diplomatic effort right now to try to drive the two parties to negotiate and to move forward on commitment that the Taliban made to the United States a year ago to negotiate meaningfully on a peaceful future for Afghanistan.”

He told House representatives that Washington is also “enlisting other countries, [and] the United Nations, in that effort”.

This is being done in the hope of driving the two parties to negotiate and to put in place agreements that would be the foundation for a just and durable peace in Afghanistan.

“And that, of course, is a very tall order but one that we’re working on,” he said.

Blinken stated that many of Afghanistan’s neighbors have a “real stake” in the country’s future and that diplomatic efforts on the part of the US are ongoing.

He said that “neighboring countries have a huge stake in Afghanistan not being a terrain for civil war that spills over the borders. And they have influence with various parties. So we’re engaging them.”

He said the Biden administration wants “to see where this [diplomatic] effort goes to actually get the parties to engage in a meaningful way.

“The Taliban made other commitments when it comes to reducing violence; when it comes to not harboring and supporting terrorists; we want to see them make good on those obligations,” he said.