Zalmay Khalilzad, Biden’s Envoy for Afghanistan, Steps Down

WASHINGTON — Zalmay Khalilzad, President Biden’s envoy for Afghanistan and a uncommon Trump appointee to stay within the new administration, is departing from the federal government, the State Division mentioned on Monday.

Mr. Khalilzad, 70, who was born in Afghanistan and grew up within the capital, Kabul, was a veteran of previous Republican administrations when President Donald J. Trump appointed him in September 2018 to pursue peace negotiations with the Taliban.

He spent a lot of the next 18 months in Doha, Qatar, assembly with Taliban representatives to craft an agreement, signed in February 2020, beneath which the Trump administration dedicated to the complete withdrawal of American troops that Mr. Biden accomplished in August.

To his critics, Mr. Khalilzad enabled a peace course of that was little greater than a fig leaf for Mr. Trump’s willpower to exit Afghanistan swiftly, with little regard for the destiny of its authorities or individuals. In latest interviews, Mr. Khalilzad has argued that he didn’t set general U.S. coverage and extracted as many concessions as he may from Taliban leaders.

In an Oct. 18 resignation letter to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, wherein he mentioned he would step down on Tuesday, Mr. Khalilzad mentioned that he was requested to hitch the Trump administration “after the choice had been made to considerably cut back or finish the navy and financial burden of the Afghan engagement on the U.S. and to free these sources for important priorities, together with home wants and the problem of coping with points associated to China.”

Mr. Khalilzad, who lengthy supported the imaginative and prescient of a extra modernized, pluralistic and democratic Afghanistan, lamented in his letter that “the political association between the Afghan authorities and the Taliban didn’t go ahead as envisaged.”

“The explanations for this are too complicated and I’ll share my ideas within the coming days and weeks, after leaving authorities service,” he wrote.

Because the Taliban stormed via the nation in August, capturing metropolis after metropolis, Mr. Khalilzad continued to barter with its leaders, urging them to barter a peaceable political transition and political power-sharing settlement with the Afghan authorities. He was unable to take action earlier than President Ashraf Ghani fled the nation on Aug. 15, saying he feared for his life.

After the Taliban captured Kabul, Mr. Khalilzad helped facilitate secure passage for American civilians and at-risk Afghans. In all, 120,000 individuals had been evacuated from the nation.

A naturalized American citizen, Mr. Khalilzad had a lifelong private funding within the nation he first left for the USA as a highschool change pupil. He served as President George W. Bush’s White Home envoy for Afghanistan after which U.S. ambassador, and even as soon as considered seeking the Afghan presidency.

Throughout the 2016 presidential marketing campaign, Mr. Khalilzad launched Mr. Trump earlier than a international coverage speech hosted by the Middle for the Nationwide Curiosity, with which Mr. Khalilzad was affiliated, and was rewarded with the Afghanistan envoy put up beneath Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Many Democrats assumed that Mr. Khalilzad would depart authorities on the finish of the Trump administration, however Mr. Blinken requested him to stay in his job, with the official title of particular envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation.

Mr. Blinken valued Mr. Khalilzad’s deep familiarity with Taliban leaders because the Biden administration continued to barter the phrases of America’s navy exit. Mr. Khalilzad additionally benefited from his relationship with Mr. Biden, whom he hosted throughout visits to Afghanistan.