U.S. President Joe Biden will meet at the White House with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah on Friday to discuss U.S. troop withdrawal amid a surge in fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban across the country.
In their first face-to-face meeting, Biden will seek to reassure Ghani and Abdullah of U.S. support for the Afghan people including diplomatic, economic and humanitarian assistance, the White House said in a statement. Biden will also repeat his pledge to ensure that the country never becomes a safe haven for terrorist groups.
The group has staged a campaign to expand its influence across the country as the United States began withdrawing troops on May 1 and closed some bases and handed them over to the Afghan government."They will talk with the U.S. officials for preservation of their power and personal interest," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. "It won’t benefit Afghanistan."
In May, U.S. intelligence analysts released an assessment that the Taliban "would roll back much" of the progress made in Afghan women's rights if the Islamist extremists regained national power.Afghans who worked for the United States during the two-decade deployment of U.S.-led NATO troops fear the insurgency will target them and their families as retribution for helping foreign forces.
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