US Secretary of State in Afghanistan to sell Biden troop withdrawal

Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, walks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the Sapidar Palace in Kabul (Sapidar Palace via AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end America’s longest-running war.

Mr Blinken sought to assure senior Afghan politicians that the United States remains committed to the country despite Mr Biden’s announcement a day earlier that the 2,500 US soldiers remaining in the country would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks that led to the US invasion in 2001.