Salman Ahmed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 32nd Director of Policy Planning | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2021 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Peter Berkowitz |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | New York University (BS) University of Cambridge (MPhil) |
Salman Ahmed is an American national security and foreign policy advisor serving as the director of policy planning in the Biden administration.
Ahmed earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a Master of Philosophy in international relations from the University of Cambridge. [1]
Ahmed worked for the United Nations as chief of staff for the Head of UN Peacekeeping Operations and secretary of the Panel on UN Peace Operations (see Brahimi Report). He was one of the drafters of the UN Secretary General's Report on the Fall of Srebrenica. Ahmed also participated in and planned UN field missions in Iraq (2003,2004),Afghanistan (2001–2002),Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996–1998),South Africa (1994),and Cambodia (1992–1993). [1]
Ahmed worked for the Obama administration for 8 years. [2] He joined the Department of State in 2009 and served as a chief of staff of the United States Mission to the United Nations, [3] continuing after July 2013 [1] as a special assistant to the President and senior director of strategic planning for the United States National Security Council. He had been a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,where he specialized in foreign policy and research [4] [5] [6] and also taught at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. [1]
During the Taliban take over of Kabul,Ahmed was dispatched to Doha to assist Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad in negotiations with Taliban representatives. [7]
The Taliban,which also refers to itself by its state name,the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,is an Afghan militant movement with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi movement of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately 75% of the country from 1996 to 2001,before it was overthrown by an American invasion. It recaptured Kabul in August 2021 following the departure of coalition forces,after 20 years of Taliban insurgency,and now controls all the country. The Taliban government is not recognized by any country and has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights,including for women to work and have an education.
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is an American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021. Khailzad was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as United States Ambassador to the United Nations,serving in the role from 2007 to 2009. Khalilzad was the highest ranking Muslim-American in government at the time he left the position. Prior to this,Khalilzad served in the Bush administration as Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007.
The Bonn Agreement was the initial series of agreements passed on December 5,2001 during an international conference on Afghanistan held in Bonn. It was intended to re-create the Islamic State of Afghanistan following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that followed the September 11,2001,terrorist attacks. Since no nationally agreed-upon government had existed in Afghanistan since 1979,it was felt necessary to have a transition period before a permanent government was established. A nationally agreed-upon government would require at least one loya jirga to be convened;however,in the absence of law and order in the wake of the rapid victory of American and Afghan Northern Alliance forces,immediate steps were felt to be required.
Opposition to the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) stems from numerous factors,including the view that the United States invasion of Afghanistan was illegal under international law and constituted an unjustified aggression,the view that the continued military presence constitutes a foreign military occupation,the view that the war does little to prevent terrorism but increases its likelihood,and views on the involvement of geo-political and corporate interests. Also giving rise to opposition to the war are civilian casualties,the cost to taxpayers,and the length of the war to date.
William Joseph Burns is an American diplomat and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Biden administration since March 19,2021. He previously served as U.S. deputy secretary of state from 2011 to 2014;in 2009 he served as acting secretary of state for a day,prior to the confirmation of Hillary Clinton. Burns retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a 32-year career. From 2014 to 2021,he served as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Relations between Afghanistan and the United States began in 1921 under the leaderships of King Amanullah Khan and President Warren G. Harding,respectively. The first contact between the two nations occurred further back in the 1830s when the first recorded person from the United States explored Afghanistan. The United States government foreign aid program provided about $500 million in aid for economic development;the aid ended before the 1978 Saur Revolution. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a turning point in the Cold War,when the United States started to financially support the Afghan resistance. The country,under both the Carter and Reagan administrations committed $3 billion dollars in financial and diplomatic support and along with Pakistan also rendering critical support to the anti-Soviet Mujahideen forces. Beginning in 1980,the United States began admitting thousands of Afghan refugees for resettlement,and provided money and weapons to the Mujahideen through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The USSR withdrew its troops in 1989.
Denis Richard McDonough is an American government official serving under President Joe Biden since 2021 as the eleventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The War in Afghanistan was an armed conflict that took place from 2001 to 2021. Launched as a direct response to the September 11 attacks,the war began when an international military coalition led by the United States invaded Afghanistan,declaring Operation Enduring Freedom as part of the earlier-declared war on terror,toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate,and establishing the Islamic Republic three years later. The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centers by US-led forces supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance;Osama bin Laden,meanwhile,relocated to neighboring Pakistan. The conflict officially ended with the 2021 Taliban offensive,which overthrew the Islamic Republic,and re-established the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in the military history of the United States,surpassing the length of the Vietnam War (1955–1975) by approximately six months.
The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,also translated as the Supreme Council,is an advisory council to the Supreme Leader of Afghanistan. The supreme leader convenes and chairs the council at his sole discretion. He has ultimate authority and may override or circumvent it at any time. It played a key role in directing the Taliban insurgency from Quetta,Pakistan,which led to it being informally referred to as the Quetta Shura at the time.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Kabul was the official diplomatic mission of the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The embassy was housed in a chancery located on Great Massoud Road in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood of the Afghan capital,Kabul,and was built at a cost of nearly $800 million. On August 15,2021,in the face of a Taliban advance on Kabul,embassy staff relocated to makeshift but secure facilities at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Kabul fell and the chancery building officially closed late August 15.
Antony John Blinken is an American lawyer and diplomat currently serving as the 71st United States secretary of state. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under President Barack Obama. Blinken was previously national security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden from 2009 to 2013.
The withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan describes the drawdown of United States Armed Forces in the Afghanistan war and the plans after its post-2014 presence when most combat troops had left Afghanistan at the end of 2014.
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American attorney who is serving as the United States National Security Advisor,reporting directly to President Joe Biden. He previously served as Director of Policy to President Barack Obama,National Security Advisor to then Vice President Biden and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State. Sullivan also served as senior advisor to the U.S. federal government at the Iran nuclear negotiations and senior policy advisor to Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign,as well as visiting professor at Yale Law School. On November 23,2020,President-elect Biden announced that Sullivan would be appointed the United States National Security Advisor. He took office on January 20,2021.
Hamdullah Mohib is a Pashtun Afghan politician and former diplomat.
Operation Freedom's Sentinel (OFS) was the official name used by the U.S. government for the mission succeeding Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in continuation of the War in Afghanistan as part of the larger Global War on Terrorism. Operation Freedom's Sentinel is part of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission,which began on January 1,2015. OFS had two components:counterterrorism and working with allies as part of Resolute Support.
Suzy George is an American attorney and foreign policy advisor who was selected to serve as the chief of staff to the United States secretary of state in the Biden administration.
The United States Armed Forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30,2021,marking the end of the 2001–2021 war. In February 2020,the Trump administration and the Taliban signed the United States–Taliban deal in Doha,Qatar,which stipulated fighting restrictions for both the US and the Taliban,and in return for the Taliban's counter-terrorism commitments,provided for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan by May 1,2021. Following the deal,the US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks on the Taliban at the detriment of the ANSF fighting the Taliban insurgency. The Biden administration's final decision in April 2021 to begin the withdrawal as planned on May 1,2021,but delay the final pull-out of all US troops until September 2021,triggered the start of the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). This collapse led to the Taliban takeover of Kabul on 15 August 2021.
The Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan,commonly known as the United States–Taliban deal or the Doha Accord,was a peace agreement signed by the United States and the Taliban on 29 February 2020 in Doha,Qatar,to bring an end to the 2001–2021 war in Afghanistan. Negotiated for the US by Zalmay Khalilzad for the Trump administration,the agreement did not involve the then Afghan government. The deal,which also had secret annexes,was one of the critical events that caused the collapse of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). Adhering to the conditions of the deal,the US dramatically reduced the number of US air raids,leaving the ANDSF without a key advantage in keeping the Taliban at bay. This resulted in "a sense of abandonment within the ANDSF and the Afghan population" according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). ANDSF was ill-prepared to sustain security following a US withdrawal,which allowed for the Taliban insurgency,ultimately leading to the Taliban takeover of Kabul on 15 August 2021.
On 15 August 2021,Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban after a major insurgent offensive that began in May 2021. It was the final action of the War in Afghanistan,and marked a total victory for the Taliban. This led to the overthrowing of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under President Ashraf Ghani and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban.
On 15 August 2021,the city of Kabul,the capital of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,was captured by Taliban forces during the 2021 Taliban offensive,concluding the War in Afghanistan that began in 2001. The fall of Kabul provoked a range of reactions across the globe,including debates on whether to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan,on the humanitarian situation in the country,on the outcome of the War,and the role of military interventionism in world affairs.
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