Report: US Pleads With Taliban To Spare Embassy in Kabul

U.S. envoy to Afghanistan vying to get commitments from Taliban forces as they overrun country

Jack Beyrer • August 12, 2021 1:15 pm

The U.S. envoy for Afghanistan is pleading with Taliban leaders to not destroy the United States’ embassy as the terrorist group plans to recapture Kabul.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief negotiator as U.S. forces pull out of the region, is asking for assurances in case the Taliban unseats Afghanistan’s government, according to the New York Times. He has allegedly held out future U.S. financial aid as an offer for the group in exchange for a commitment that the Taliban will not turn the embassy in Afghanistan to rubble.

According to the report, the situation is increasingly dire. U.S. intelligence estimates the Taliban could capture Kabul in the next 90 days. The Taliban on Thursday captured the major city of Ghazni, which is located less than 100 miles from Kabul.

The Biden administration continues to encourage Afghan forces—which are allegedly suffering war crimes at the hands of the Taliban—to fight for themselves and has promised no military aid in the coming weeks. House Armed Services Committee ranking member Mike Rogers (R., Ala.) pilloried the administration for abandoning the region as Afghans now suffer the consequences of his actions.

“It was President Biden’s decision to completely and unconditionally withdraw from Afghanistan, rushed, without a plan, and against the advice of those who were on the ground,” Rogers said. “President Biden’s legacy will be stained with the bloodshed of innocent Afghan women and children who have been left at the mercy of a merciless terrorist organization…. President Biden cannot hide from this catastrophe. It’s happening on his watch because of his actions. He must change course or be held accountable for his decision.”

Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster said at a Thursday event that we have “talked ourselves into defeat” in Afghanistan and must change course to protect the country.

“We are facing the growth, now, of a multigenerational problem with jihadist terrorism, and disengaging from it is not the answer because it cedes the initiative and resources to our determined, brutal, murderous enemies,” McMaster said. “Unless we back up what we’re saying, unless we back up our crocodile tears for the Afghan victims with action, it’s not going to make a damn bit of difference.”