CIA director held secret meeting with Taliban leader in Kabul

Washington – CIA Director William Burns met with the de facto Taliban leader in Kabul on Monday, a source familiar with the matter said, during the group’s highest-level meeting with the Biden administration since the fall of the Afghan capital.

News of Burns’ meeting with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar comes a week before the August 31 deadline for the US military to complete its evacuation of US and Afghan allies from Kabul. About 21,600 people were evacuated from the capital over a 24-hour period Monday and Tuesday, including 12,700 evacuated on 37 military flights, a White House official said.

A US defense official said the military expected a decision from the White House on Tuesday on whether or not the United States will leave Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline.

To date, the Taliban have allowed the US evacuation effort to proceed largely unhindered, although there have been reports of beatings and injuries in the chaotic perimeter of the airport. US officials have warned that massive crowds could be the target of a terrorist attack by the group known as ISIS-K, known to operate in Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesperson told CBS News that extending operations beyond August 31 would be a “violation” of the US pledge to pull out. “The answer depends on the decision of our leaders,” said the spokesperson.

Baradar, a longtime Taliban official, was arrested by the CIA during a joint operation with Pakistani intelligence services in 2010 in Karachi. He became free in 2018 after the United States pushed for his release while starting talks with the Taliban. The Washington Post first reported Monday’s meeting with Burns.

Burns is the first career diplomat to lead the CIA, having served as Assistant Secretary of State from 2011 to 2014 after spending more than three decades at the State Department. In his memoir, “The Back Channel,” he describes the secret bilateral talks he conducted with Iran under the Obama administration alongside Jake Sullivan, now President Biden’s national security adviser. The talks ultimately paved the way for a nuclear deal with Tehran.

In interviews and testimony in Congress, Burns acknowledged that the ability of the United States to collect and respond to terrorist threats would decline after the military’s withdrawal, but that the CIA would retain a “suite of capabilities” to monitor them. potential conspiracies. Pentagon and intelligence officials have warned that Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups would likely seek to regain the ability to launch attacks against US targets.

On Monday, the State Department said talks with the Taliban had been “operational, tactical (…) focused largely on our short-term operations and short-term goals,” but did not elaborate. at what level the engagements were taking place.

The CIA and the National Security Council declined to comment on Tuesday.