Khalilzad rejects comparing Ukraine talks to Afghan peace process

Former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan peace Zalmay Khalilzad has dismissed recent attempts to draw parallels between negotiations over the war in Ukraine and the Afghan peace process, calling such comparisons inaccurate and misleading.

In a statement posted on X, Khalilzad said the circumstances of the two conflicts were fundamentally different. “Unlike in Ukraine, Afghanistan was an American war, with American troops fighting and dying in combat with IEA forces. As such, direct U.S.-IEA discussions were a necessary element of the negotiations for ending that war. But they were not the only element. It is simply false that the Afghan government was frozen out,” he wrote.

Khalilzad explained that in the early phase of Afghan negotiations, the United States acted as a mediator, shuttling between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the former Afghan government. “Once agreements were reached with both sides, the Afghan government and the IEA negotiated face to face with each other — albeit unsuccessfully,” he added.

He emphasized that the dynamics in Ukraine differ entirely from those in Afghanistan. “There is simply no comparison between the Afghanistan case, which involved an American withdrawal after 20 years of war, and Ukraine’s case, where Ukrainians are doing all of the fighting,” Khalilzad said. He argued that the collapse of the former Afghan Republic stemmed from its forces abandoning the battlefield and its leadership fleeing the country.

His comments highlight the distinct political and military contexts of each conflict and why, according to him, lessons from Afghanistan cannot be directly applied to Ukraine.