Afghan peace process

US President Joe Biden's administration has blamed his predecessor Donald Trump for the deadly and chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, leading to one of the darkest moments of Biden's presidency, the Associated Press reported.

As the Afghan government fell, there were scenes of despair at Kabul airport as huge crowds tried to flee the Taliban, the BBC recalled.

The United States on Dec. 4 led a group of Western nations and allies in condemnation of the Taliban over the "summary killings" of former members of the Afghan security forces reported by rights groups, demanding quick investigations.

Moscow will host today an international meeting on Afghanistan with the participation of the Taliban, AFP reported.

The agency notes that Russia, which presents itself as a guarantor of stability in Central Asia, will use the forum to signal to the Islamist movement its concern about the rise of jihadist groups, and will stress the danger of a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

The Taliban warned the United States not to "destabilize" the regime on Oct. 9 during their first face-to-face talks since the U.S. withdrawal, as a deadly sectarian bombing raised further questions about their grip on power.

Senior Pentagon officials said on Sept. 29 the collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces in August could be traced to a 2020 U.S. agreement with the Taliban that promised a complete U.S. troop withdrawal.

The international community should continue to engage with Afghanistan, Turkey's foreign minister said on Sept. 22. 

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his counterparts exchanged opinions on irregular migration and the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as part of a virtual G20 foreign ministers meeting hosted by the Italian chair of the intergovernmental forum.

The Taliban are covering the images of women depicted on the walls of Afghanistan's capital Kabul with paint and writing pro-Taliban slogans over them.

The group, which captured large swathes of the country within days in a sweeping military offensive, is now dictating its rules even though it has not yet made those rules official.

The hardline Islamist Taliban celebrated their total return to power on Tuesday with gunfire and diplomacy, after the last US troops flew out of Afghanistan to end two decades of war.

 The United States' longest military conflict drew to a close on Monday night when its forces abandoned Kabul's airport, where it had overseen a frenzied airlift that saw more than 123,000 people flee.

US Central Intelligence Agency chief William Burns has held a secret meeting with Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul, the Washington Post and Associated Press reported.

He added that Brussels would have to co-operate with the radical Afghan movement as they emerged victorious from a decade-long conflict.
The group now has full control of Afghanistan, following the complete collapse of the US-backed Afghan government in 2001.