Biden To Meet With Afghan President In Washington On June 25 - White House

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st June, 2021) US President Joe Biden will receive his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, and the chief of Afghan reconciliation process, Abdullah Abdullah, on June 25, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Sunday.

"President Biden looks forward to welcoming Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, to the White House on June 25, 2021. The visit by President Ghani and Dr. Abdullah will highlight the enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan as the military drawdown continues," the statement read.

The US continues to provide diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian assistance to support the Afghan people and facilitate the ongoing peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban radical Islamist movement, encouraging all parties to participate in negotiations to put an end to the conflict.

Afghanistan is still witnessing hostilities between the government forces and the Taliban, whose militia groups control large rural territories. In February 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed the first peace agreement in eighteen years, which envisioned the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and the launch of the intra-Afghan dialogue, started in September 2020 in Doha.

In April, Biden announced that the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan will start in May, promising to complete it by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.