US Secretary of State admits the Taliban is the `de facto Afghan government` 0
(Dan Tri) – A week after the Taliban announced an interim government in Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that the Taliban is `the de facto government in Afghanistan`.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (Photo: Reuters).
`The Taliban is the de facto government of Afghanistan. That is the truth. That is the result when one side gains the upper hand in a civil war,` CNBC quoted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as saying at a hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee.
During this three-hour hearing, Mr. Blinken also defended President Joe Biden’s administration’s troop withdrawal campaign from Afghanistan.
`We were right to decide to end America’s longest war. We were right to decide not to send a third generation of Americans to fight and die in Afghanistan. We did the right thing.`
Earlier this month, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dodged a reporter’s question about whether the US recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley also commented similarly: `We do not know what the future of the Taliban will be. I can only speak from personal experience as a violent armed group in the past.`
The US began sending military forces into Afghanistan in October 2001, a few weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
After being overthrown, the Taliban still cherished plans to regain power in Afghanistan.
On September 7, the Taliban announced the cabinet of the Afghan interim government consisting of 33 members of the Taliban and their allies.
A Taliban representative said that the current cabinet is only interim, and in the future, they will allow women to take positions in the government.
The last US plane left Afghanistan, ending the longest war in history
