director of the CIA secretly met with the head of the Taliban in Kabul | The goal of the meeting was the date set to finalize the evacuation from Afghanistan

With the evacuation of thousands of people from Afghanistan as a backdrop, the director of the CIA William burns held a secret meeting in Kabul with the co-founder of the Taliban, Abdul Ghani Baradar. It is the meeting at the highest level between the United States and the insurgent movement after the latter took the capital of Afghanistan on Sunday (August 15th), ending two months of accelerated expansion throughout the north of the country. This was reported on Tuesday by the newspaper The Washington Post. The decision of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, to send to afghan territory a burn, often presented as their most experienced diplomat, illustrates the severity of the crisis for your administration, which evacuates thousands of civilians against the clock.

Although many have already been able to leave the country, charges are being brought against the Taliban for persecuting citizens who worked for foreign powers or the recently deposed government and for restricting their access to the airport.. The gigantic evacuation operation, described a few days ago by Biden as “one of the most difficult in history”, mobilized planes from around the world for a week. The Taliban warned again on Tuesday that the evacuations were to end on August 31, despite requests from Western powers to extend the deadline.

The details of the meeting

Diplomat with a long career, William Burns served as ambassador to Russia and Jordan, then Deputy Secretary of State to former President Barack Obama.. At that time, he led a rapprochement with Iran with secret negotiations in 2011 and 2012 in Oman with this country, despite the absence of diplomatic relations with the United States. For its part the mullah Abdel Ghani | Baradar, who headed the Taliban’s political bureau in Qatar during talks in July with the Afghan government of the time of Ashraf Ghani to end two decades of conflict in the country, He is the new strongman of the regime that took power in Kabul.

Last April, Burns had already traveled to Afghanistan to meet with President Ghani, in order to prepare for the start of the US military withdrawal. The second meeting of the year, in this case with Baradar, took place on the same day the Taliban warned that the August 31 date must be respected. because they see it as “a red line” on the allowed limits for withdrawal.

The CIA declined to comment on details of Burns’ meeting with Baradar. explaining that the American intelligence agency “never talks about the director’s movements”, but discussions focused on the timeframe in which Biden wants the US military to complete its airlift of US citizens and Afghan allies.

Speaking to CNN, a US official who requested anonymity described the meeting as “an exchange of views on what must happen to complete” the evacuations before the date set. Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that the United States was making “huge strides” in the speed of its evacuations.

The United States is also concerned about security around Kabul airport, and Sullivan acknowledged his concern that the ISIS (Islamic State) branch in Afghanistan could attack civilians concentrated in the region..

Washington estimates that since August 14 it has evacuated or facilitated the transfer of 58,700 people to other countries.. From Monday to Tuesday, the evacuation of 21,600 people was managed, of which 12,700 correspond to the operations of 37 US military planes, the highest number of evacuations in a single day by the United States to date.

Corn a crowd still gathers in front of the Kabul airport in the hope of fleeing. The Americans stepped up their evacuation efforts on Tuesday after stern warnings from the Taliban. A virtual G7 summit also addressed the issue. Despite pressure from several European countries, Biden has decided to accept the Pentagon’s recommendation to meet the August 31 deadline..

Taliban oppose extension

For their part, the Taliban reiterated Tuesday that they opposed an extension of the evacuation period beyond the date set. One of the spokespersons of the movement, Zabihullah Mujahid, accused of foreign powers of evacuating “Afghan experts”, such as engineers and other professionals whose “talents we need”. “We ask them to stop these operations. They have planes, they have the airport, they should get their citizens and their contractors out of here,” Mujahid said, adding that “they should not incite the Afghans to flee Afghanistan “.

The spokesperson added that militia will no longer allow Afghans to enter Kabul airport, alleging the chaotic situation in the country. In Afghanistan, citizens who have worked for governments or foreign companies in recent years, artists or those who have defended the country’s openness and the rights of women or minorities, know that they are easy targets for them. extremists. Seeking to put on cold clothes, Mujahid assured that Afghan officials can return to work when “security is guaranteed”, although women must stay at home for now.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle bachelet, warned this Tuesday that “A fundamental red line will be the treatment of women and girls by the Taliban”. Speaking Tuesday at a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Afghanistan, Bachelet urged the Taliban movement to “adopt responsible governance and human rights standards (…) that respect the rights of all who have suffered during decades of conflict. “