William Child Children, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had a secret meeting in Kabul with Abdulgan Baradar, co-founder of the Islamist Taliban, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Monday’s talks have been a high-level meeting between an Islamist group and the Baiden administration since the Taliban returned to power.
Burns is one of US President Joe Biden’s most experienced diplomats, while Baradar, who ran a Taliban political office in Qatar, is one of the top leaders of the regime that took power in Kabul.
The talks are likely to discuss the possibility of the United States completing the evacuation at Kabul airport, where thousands of Afghans have gathered in hopes of leaving the country, horrified by the Taliban’s return to power.
Biden has chosen August 31 as the date by which the evacuation should be completed, but has left the door open for an extension.
A Taliban spokesman warned on Monday that the group would not agree to an extension, calling the issue a “red line”, but called the postponement a “prolongation of the occupation.”
A G7 virtual summit is scheduled for Tuesday to address the issue of evacuation.
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