Top US envoy Blinken in Afghanistan for troop withdrawal talks

US Secretary of State makes an unannounced visit to brief officials on Biden’s plan to withdraw American troops by September 11.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to brief officials on President Joe Biden’s plan to withdraw all American troops by the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks this year. Blinken on Thursday met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as well as senior US officials in Kabul and briefed them on Biden’s Wednesday’s announcement that he was ending “the forever war”, which began in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Biden announced that the remaining 2,500 US soldiers in Afghanistan would be withdrawn from Afghanistan starting on May 1 to end its longest war, rejecting calls for them to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation’s grinding internal conflict.