AS US MULLS EXIT, AFGHANISTAN MUST GET ITS ACT TOGETHER: America wants to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by May 1, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has conveyed this to President Ashraf Ghani, asking him to speed up peace talks with the Taliban. Blinken said he will ask the UN to convene foreign ministers of Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and the US “to discuss a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan”. Often in the past, the Afghan government’s response to the intense Taliban insurgency has left a lot to be desired. As these withdrawal moves gather pace, the onus is increasingly on Kabul to get its act together and step up to its security responsibilities. [COMMENT BY: Omar Shariff, International Editor]
AP