Afghan War: US begins military withdrawal from Afghanistan as confusion builds over 2 presidents holding oath amid blasts

Kabul: On Monday, two Presidents took oaths in Afghanistan. Two bomb blasts occurred at the time of Ashraf Ghani’s swearing-in ceremony as the President. After a few hours, his rival Abdullah Abdullah also held the swearing-in ceremony as Afghanistan’s President. Therefore, currently, there are two Presidents in Afghanistan and both claim to have secured a majority in the elections. Amid the political crises, the differences between Ashraf Ghani’s government and the Taliban are intensifying, jeopardising the all-party talks. Given the current scenario, the US military officials announced initiating the process of US military withdrawal.

Ashraf Ghani was sworn in as the President in Kabul on Monday. Ghani was declared to have attained victory in the elections. Also, the United States has acknowledged Ghani’s win and Zalmay Khalilzad, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, attended the swearing-in ceremony. Two bomb blasts occurred at the time of the service, and the attendees began running for cover. The security agencies nevertheless managed to bring the situation under control after a while. No damages were reported in the blasts for which the ISIS has accepted responsibility.

Ashraf Ghani stated that he would not give up power by being afraid of the attacks. At the time, Ghani announced that he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save democracy in Afghanistan. At the Safedar Palace, a short distance from the Presidential residence in capital Kabul, Abdullah Abdullah was also sworn-in as the President. Abdullah Abdullah claimed his lone victory at the elections. A grave political crisis has thus emerged in Afghanistan. All-party talks will be held in Afghanistan soon with participation from the government as well as the Taliban.

Analysts believe, despite the United States and the Taliban signing the peace deal, the future of Afghanistan would be ascertained during the all-party talks. However, before negotiations could be held with an extremist organisation such as the Taliban, severe differences have emerged between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah over which government was official. Moreover, President Ghani has delivered a blow to the Taliban by refusing to release the 5,000 Taliban terrorists in Afghan prisons.

The Taliban has started attacking the Afghan military, declared that no talks were possible unless their comrades were released from the prisons. On the other hand, Ashraf Ghani is not willing to release the prisoners, unless the Taliban submits a written assurance of ending the violence. Not one but multiple conflicts appear to have broken out in Afghanistan. At such a decisive moment, the United States is preparing for military withdrawal from the country. The United States has decided to downsize the troops from roughly 13,000 to 8,600 in the next 135 days. The downsizing was agreed to in the peace deal with the Taliban. Accordingly, the US military withdrawal has started, Colonel Sonny Leggett, spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan, said.

The events on Monday were a trailer of the situation that may arise in Afghanistan after the US military withdrawal.

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