On Monday, a secret meeting was conducted between the head of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns with the leader of the Taliban Mullah Baradar. No confirmation for the same was given by both parties.
Baradar is among the four men who founded the Taliban in 1994. He was captured in a US-Pakistani operation in 2010 and had spent eight years in prison. He is currently the head of the Taliban political office in Qatar where he signed the Doha agreement in February 2020 of withdrawal of US and NATO troops.
Biden administration has set the deadline of 31 August for American forces to leave Afghanistan along with its allies the UK is eager for an extension. The sources have informed the US’s many news outlets about the CIA and Taliban meeting and gave few details. If this information is to be believed, this could be the highest-level contact between the US and the Taliban ever since the takeover of Afghanistan by the militants. A leading new agency said that the discussions are likely to have involved the deadline for the US military to conclude its airlift.
On Tuesday, the Taliban has stated that no Afghan would be allowed to leave the country and they will not extend the deadline for the US withdrawal.
