Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his entourage returned to the country Saturday evening after a two-day official visit to Washington DC.

During his visit to the US Ghani had meetings with US President Joe Biden and other high-ranking US officials. He also met with some families of US soldiers killed in the war in Afghanistan.

First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who accompanied Ghani, said on Sunday that as the US military presence concludes in the country: “We needed to align our strategies on leading & managing the new chapter in our relations [with the US].”

Saleh said the main purpose of Ghani’s visit to the US was as follow:

1: To strengthen relations after the withdrawal of US troops and clarify the scope of bilateral cooperation.

2: Discuss and focus on ways to implement and effectively use US defense security assistance – development and humanitarian.

3: Explain the complexities of the peace and negotiation process from the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

4: To put emphasis on the principled and legal strategy of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in defending its territory and sovereignty.

5: As a symbol of unity and unity of the government and the nation of Afghanistan.

6: Explain the role of the region in Afghanistan post-withdrawal.

7: To show respect for the US Government’s decision to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

8: Leaders of both powerful US parties, one now in power and the other in opposition, welcomed the Afghan delegation and reiterated their continued support.

9: US President Joe Biden said that the people of Afghanistan should know that he is a friend of Afghanistan in the White House and that the narrative of escaping from their obligations is baseless and wrong.

Saleh also said that on the sidelines of this trip, away from cameras and recorders, the Afghan delegation had a “detailed meeting with a group of Afghan friends, including former ambassadors – former military – development and economics officials – theorists who were now out of government but once held senior leadership positions”.

In conclusion, Saleh said: “We also talked to the American strategizing community. This is part of the hidden system. There was a very long and encouraging consensus. They stressed that as friends of Afghanistan, they would work together to strengthen post-withdrawal relations and use their influence on all parts of the US system to nullify the dream of seizing power by force and bring the Taliban and Taliban supporters back to the negotiation table.”

Saleh also said the visit to the US was “one of the most accomplished trips in the history of foreign travels”.