Mike Pompeo: US cutting aid to Afghanistan by $1 bn over dispute between rival leaders

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on March 23 anunced that Washington was cutting $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan because apparently  rival leers in country were unable to form an inclusive government. Secretary Pompeo in a statement released on Monday said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah have been unable to agree on an inclusive government that can meet challenges of governance, peace, and security, and provide for health and welfare of Afghan citizens. 

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" United States is disappointed in m and what ir conduct means for Afghanistan and our shared interests. ir failure has harmed U.S.-Afghan relations and, sly, dishors those Afghan, Americans, and Coalition partners who have sacrificed ir lives and treasure in struggle to build a new future for this country," Pompeo said in press release. 

"Because this leership failure poses a direct threat to U.S. national interests, effective immediately, U.S. government will initiate a review of scope of our cooperation with Afghanistan. Among or steps, we are today anuncing a responsible justment to our spending in Afghanistan and immediately reducing assistance by $1 billion this year. We are prepared to reduce by ar $1 billion in 2021," Pompeo ded. 

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Peace Deal

United States and Taliban signed peace deal after 18 months of negotiations and 20 years of war. deal which was signed in presence of leers from Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan would see grual withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan under a timeline of 14 months. deal also requires Taliban to guarantee that ir territory will t be used as a launchp that would threaten security of United States and its allies.

deal was signed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilz and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Barar on February 29, 2020 with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a witness. As per reports, more than 1,00,000 Afghan citizens have lost ir lives or wounded since 2009, when United Nations Assistance Mission began documenting casualties. re have been nearly 4,000 coalition deaths in war in Afghanistan, of which 2,500 soldiers belonged to US Army.

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