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US Senate Committee Chair says troops withdrawal might be reconsidered
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez said Tuesday that the US deadline, May 1, for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan may have to be reconsidered as the Taliban are not abiding by all of their commitments under the Doha deal.
“I am very concerned about the viability of the peace process in Afghanistan,” Menendez said.
Reuters reported Menendez stated that he believes the Taliban is “clearly not abiding” by all of the commitments it made in the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha in February last year.
Currently, there are about 2,500 US soldiers in Afghanistan.
“If the Taliban are confirmed as not meeting their commitments, which I personally believe they’re not, then we may have to reconsider the May 1 deadline,” Menendez said.
This comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken proposed a new peace plan last week.
In a letter to Afghan leaders and the Taliban, Blinken suggested the establishment of a transitional government. It has since emerged that according to the plan, the Taliban would be given a 50 percent representation in the proposed system.
The proposal was however met by mixed reactions among Afghan officials.
First Vice President Amrullah Saleh stated that Afghanistan will never accept demands that could jeopardize the people’s right to vote.
He said the letter “shameful” and that he will “resist it”.
“Let me be clear I will not sign it,” Saleh said.
He also stated that the people of Afghanistan will not accept what he called a “forced and imposed peace on the people of Afghanistan”.
“One of the articles is to form a supreme council for the enforcement of Sharia [law]. In the county where we have several scholars like Imam Abu Hanifa; now two people who graduated from Haqqania School will hand over a certificate of Islam to us. I will never sign at the bottom of that shameful document,” said Saleh.
“We have the right not to hang the fate of 35 million people on someone else’s schedule,” he said adding that “Americans and their Western allies have every right to decide the fate of 2,500 U.S. and a few thousand NATO troops now stationed in our country.”
Pakistan has said Islamabad is “deeply shocked” at the martyrdom of Afghanistan Acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani in an explosion on Wednesday afternoon.
Haqqani was martyred in an attack inside the ministry on Wednesday afternoon.
On Wednesday night, Ishaq Dar, Pakistan's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, said Islamabad “unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We are in touch with the Interim Afghan Government to ascertain further details.”
Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq also passed on his condolences.
He said: “The Government and people of Pakistan are deeply shocked and saddened by the cowardly terrorist attack in Kabul today, which targeted Alhaj Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani, Acting Minister for Refugees.
“Pakistan stands in solidarity with Afghanistan in this hour of grief and reiterates its commitment to work with Afghanistan in fighting the menace of terrorism and promoting regional peace and stability.”
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has expressed its condolences over the martyrdom of the Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s, and said he was “a tireless Mujahid in the way of God".
On Wednesday evening, IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s martyrdom was a great loss for the government, the Mujahideen, his family and all Afghans.
“Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani spent his whole life in defense of God's religion in Jihad, migration and enduring hardships. He was one of the members of the great Jihadi family for which the enemies of Islam had set a five million dollars bounty on his head,” the statement read.
“Such a cowardly act cannot weaken the will of Muslims or lead the conspirators to their sinister goals against our strong Islamic system. Rather, such cowardly actions make the faces of the enemies of religion and Islam blacker and make their sinister intentions more obvious,” he said.
No group or individual has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has expressed its condolences over the martyrdom of the Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s, and said he was “a tireless Mujahid in the way of God".
IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s martyrdom was a great loss for the government, the Mujahideen, his family and all Afghans.
“Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani spent his whole life in defense of God's religion in Jihad, migration and enduring hardships. He was one of the members of the great Jihadi family for which the enemies of Islam had set a five million dollars bounty on his head,” the statement read.
“Such a cowardly act cannot weaken the will of Muslims or lead the conspirators to their sinister goals against our strong Islamic system. Rather, such cowardly actions make the faces of the enemies of religion and Islam blacker and make their sinister intentions more obvious,” he said.
The IEA stated that Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s was martyred, in a cowardly attack by “Khawarij”.
Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani was martyred in an suicide bombing that took place on Wednesday afternoon inside the ministry, but no further casualties have been reported yet.
Khalil Rahman Haqqani, 58, has been the acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation since September 7, 2021.
Afghan Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil Haqqani, was martyred in a suicide bombing that targeted the ministry in Kabul on Wednesday, a reliable source confirmed.
Speaking to Ariana News, the source said the explosion happened inside the ministry, which led to the martyrdom of Haqqani.
Khalil Rahman Haqqani, 58, has been the acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation since September 7, 2021.
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