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<\/p>\nWASHINGTON\u00a0\u2013 President Joe Biden will meet with Afghan leaders at the White House on Friday amid an ongoing U.S. military withdrawal as Afghanistan’s future remains in limbo.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The president’s meeting\u00a0with Afghan President\u00a0Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, head of\u00a0the country\u2019s High Council for National Reconciliation,\u00a0comes as\u00a0U.S.-backed peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have stalled.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the militant Islamic group has gained new territory at an alarming clip in recent weeks. Renewed fighting has stoked fears that the Taliban will topple the Afghan government once American\u00a0and NATO forces have left.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Afghanistan\u2019s former president\u00a0Hamid Karzai said the U.S.-led war is ending in “disaster.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive officer of Afghanistan, left, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, President Obama and Vice President Biden meet in the Oval Office of the White House on March 24, 2015. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe international community came here 20 years ago with this clear objective of fighting extremism and bringing stability … but extremism is at the highest point today,” Karzai told the Associated Press on Sunday.<\/p>\n They are leaving Afghanistan “in total disgrace and disaster,\u201d Karzai said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was withdrawing militarily from Afghanistan but not disengaging from the country’s future.<\/p>\n “We intend to continue our support to humanitarian, economic (and)\u00a0development programs, including support for women and girls,” Blinken told reporters on Thursday during a trip to Europe.<\/p>\n Blinken said the White House knows “there’s a real danger” the Taliban will try to retake the country by force and “that we’ll see a renewal of a war or possibly worse.\u00a0… That’s a hard reality,” he said.<\/p>\n Ahead of Friday’s meeting, the Biden administration confirmed it would relocate\u00a0thousands of\u00a0Afghans who worked with the U.S. military\u00a0as interpreters and translators while their visa applications are being vetted, according to a senior administration official.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u00a0decision came amid growing pressure from lawmakers in both parties\u00a0who fear those Afghans who served alongside American troops will be killed by the Taliban as the\u00a0U.S. completes its military withdrawal.\u00a0<\/p>\n In April, Biden announced\u00a0the U.S. would withdraw all troops by Sept. 11,\u00a0the 20-year anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks that triggered America’s longest war. He said the U.S. had achieved its goals of routing al-Qaida.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We delivered justice to\u00a0Bin Laden a decade ago, and we’ve stayed in Afghanistan a decade since then,” Biden\u00a0said in an April 14 speech, referring to the 2011 killing of Osama Bin Laden, the onetime leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network.\u00a0<\/p>\n In announcing Friday’s meeting, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Biden administration remains committed to working with the Afghan government “to\u00a0ensure the country never again becomes a safe haven for terrorist groups\u00a0who pose a threat to the U.S. homeland.”<\/p>\n20 years of war in Afghanistan<\/h2>\n