A secretive planned visit to Afghanistan is announced; U S Defense head Lloyd Austin, meeting with senior Afghan officials. The visit is the Biden Administration’s first in-person talks with Afghanistan, amid questions about how long American troops will stay in that country. The Trump White House had planned to pull all American troops from Afghanistan by May first, with the Taliban warning against American delays on that date.
U.S. Defense head Lloyd Austin arrived Sunday in Kabul to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, after insistence Afghanistan must make internal peace to keep the Taliban from making major territorial advances if the Americans pull out.
Washington has delivered a peace proposal to the Afghan government and the Taliban for review. Among other assignments, Austin served in Afghanistan as Commander of the 19th Mountain Division and was head of U.S. Central Command, overseeing the area’s wars.
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