New Delhi: Top US envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who spearheaded the negotiations with the Taliban paving the way for the withdrawal of US troops, is stepping down in less than two months after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Khalilzad, who submitted his resignation on Friday, will be replaced by his deputy, Tom West, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, according to Reuters.
West will be working closely with the US embassy, which is now based in Doha, on US interests in Afghanistan, according to Blinken. Blinken also thanked Khalilzad for his "decades of service".
What is the reason behind Zalmay Khalilzad’s resignation?
In a letter to Blinken, Khalilzad acknowledged that "the political arrangement between the Afghan government and the Taliban did not go forward as envisaged", according to a BBC report.
His departure was followed by the envoy's exclusion from the Biden administration's first formal talks with the Taliban after the US pullout, held in Doha earlier in October.
Khalilzad, born in Afghanistan, held the post since 2018. He was engaged in talks with the hardline Islamist movement and the Western-backed government of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to negotiate a political settlement ending decades of strife. But he was criticised for not pressing the Taliban hard enough during peace talks.
According to US officials, the veteran American diplomat relinquished leverage to the militant group, continuously undermined the Afghan government, and had little interest in hearing different viewpoints within the US government.