US: International pressure to reach political agreement in Afghanistan increases.
The Secretary of Defense called on the international community to increase pressure on the Taliban to reach a political agreement in Afghanistan.
Secretary of Defense Gen. Lloyd Austin tweeted that the international community must increase pressure on the Taliban to reach a political agreement in Afghanistan.
“The security situation in Afghanistan means that the international community must put more pressure on the Taliban to reach a political agreement to end the Afghan crisis,” Austin tweeted.
He added: “All countries in the world can help by continuing these pressures in this regard and give the government to the people of Afghanistan who want and deserve it.”
Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkel recently said that given the current situation in Afghanistan and the rise of Taliban-held areas, the group is unlikely to agree to a political deal, but military pressure on them is unrealistic.
Earlier, Zalmai Khalilzad, the US special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, said that Washington was pressuring the Afghan government and the Taliban to reduce the violence as soon as possible.
The Taliban have repeatedly stated that “just as the United States has failed to impose its plan on us through military pressure, it cannot take unilateral steps through political pressure.”
