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Khalilzad says it would have been better to get IEA involved in talks early on
He noted that the anger and feelings of the US leadership at that time would have made it difficult to reconcile with the IEA, but the IEA members, in conversations in Doha, blamed Karzai and the Northern Alliance figures.
Former US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has said that it would have been better to get the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) involved in negotiations or deliberations about the future early on.
Speaking in a podcast released by Doha Debates, Khalilzad said that senior IEA members had met chairman of the interim authority in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, following the Bonn negotiations, saying they would accept the new authority, provided that they could live in honor and dignity in their homes and not to be pursued and prosecuted.
He noted that the anger and feelings of the US leadership at that time would have made it difficult to reconcile with the IEA, but the IEA members, in conversations in Doha, blamed Karzai and the Northern Alliance figures.
“They (IEA) thought that 20 years of war and all the loss of life on all sides of Afghanistan was due to that mistake, as they saw it, to that neglect by President Karzai,” he said.
The former US diplomat recalled that President Donald Trump decided in 2018 to get troops out of Afghanistan believing the US wouldn’t succeed in winning the war and that priorities had changed.
Khalilzad said that he kept insisting in talks with the IEA that nothing would be agreed to until everything is agreed to, but there was this messaging from Washington and a desire not to link, too tightly, withdrawal to the agreement between the government and the IEA because of an assumption that the “Afghans would not agree with each other.”
On the two secret annexes of the Doha Agreement, Khalilzad said that they were about the specifics of the withdrawal process and terrorism issues, not the future Afghan government.
He emphasized that the Doha agreement meets the core concerns of the United States as not as single American was killed by the IEA during the 18 months and IEA is living up to its commitments regarding terrorism.
The United States has delivered a second batch of UH-60A+ Black Hawk helicopters—previously operated by Afghanistan’s former government forces—to Peru.
The helicopters were part of military equipment relocated to Uzbekistan following the Islamic Emirate’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, when 22 fixed-wing aircraft and 24 helicopters crossed into Uzbek airspace.
The Islamic Emirate has repeatedly demanded the return of the aircraft, but Uzbekistan has declined, maintaining that the equipment does not belong to Afghanistan. In February 2025, Uzbekistan transferred seven Afghan Black Hawk helicopters to the United States.
In November 2024, the United States presented Peru with the first batch of nine Sikorsky UH-60A+ Black Hawk multi-role helicopters.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has emphasized the continuation of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, stating that the ongoing provision of such aid plays an important role in ensuring regional security.
Speaking at the international conference “Peace and Trust” in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, Tokayev described addressing complex humanitarian challenges and the reconstruction of Afghanistan as a necessity.
“To ensure regional security, we consider it essential to continue providing assistance to Afghanistan, including by strengthening international efforts to address complex humanitarian issues and the reconstruction of this country. Kazakhstan remains committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan through humanitarian aid, educational projects, trade development, and food security initiatives,” he said.
Meanwhile, experts believe that sustainable improvement of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan requires broad cooperation from the international community and support for the country’s economic development.
“Investment can be defined as one of the fundamental drivers of the economic cycle, and whenever Afghan traders do not take their money out of the country and instead invest domestically, it naturally leads to greater growth and dynamism in Afghanistan’s economy,” said Abdul Zahoor Modabber, an economic analyst.
As the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan continues, reports by international relief organizations indicate that millions of citizens of the country are in urgent need of food, health, and livelihood assistance.
The reduction in funding for aid organizations, the impacts of climate change, and the return of migrants have increased concerns about a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country.
The Islamic Emirate has announced that it will not participate in the upcoming meeting of special envoys of regional countries on Afghanistan, scheduled to be held in Tehran, despite having received an invitation.
In a statement, Zia Ahmad Takal, Head of Information and Public Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the Islamic Emirate has maintained continuous and active engagement with all regional countries through various organizations, regional formats, and bilateral mechanisms, achieving notable progress in promoting mutual understanding and regional cooperation.
The statement added that Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes regional cooperation should be advanced by strengthening existing mechanisms and formats within the region.
Tehran is set to host the meeting next week, with special envoys from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China, and Russia expected to attend.
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