"The US gov't should conduct a thorough investigation of Zalmay Khalilzad's backdoor deals with the Taliban crime syndicate. For the past 3 years he betrayed both Afghanistan & the US by legitimising a terrorist group & giving too many concessions without anything tangible in return," Ali Nazary tweeted.
Zalmay Khalilzad stepped down on Monday to make way for a "new phase of our Afghanistan policy", almost two years after he helped negotiate the Doha deal with the Taliban that eventually led to a rushed US withdrawal and the collapse of the Afghan government in August.
Khalilzad reportedly admitted in a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the political arrangement between the Taliban and the government in Kabul "did not go forward as envisaged". The State Department's acting inspector general Diana Shaw said separately on Monday that she would look into the final days of US mission in the country.
U.S. Marines provide assistance during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20, 2021.
© REUTERS / US MARINES
The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August after seizing Kabul without any resistance on 15 August. When the insurgents reached the capital, President Ghani fled the country. The last province to resist the group, Panjshir, surrendered on 6 September.
*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other countries.