Headline Roundup • August 24th, 2021
CIA Director Meets with Taliban's Top Political Leader
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Monday, CIA Director William Burns met in person with Taliban founding member and political leader Abdul Ghani Baradar. The secretive meeting is the first between the Taliban and the Biden administration, and makes Burns the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet in person with top Taliban leadership.
The details of the meeting have not been disclosed by the CIA, but experts say the discussion most likely focused on the Aug. 31 deadline for evacuations of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies from Afghanistan. U.S. officials have not confirmed whether an extension is possible; the Taliban gave a "red line" warning this week that an extension would "provoke a reaction."
Featured Coverage of this Story
Al Drago/AFP/Getty Images
CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting Monday in Kabul with the Taliban’s de facto leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants seized the Afghan capital, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
President Biden dispatched his top spy, a veteran of the Foreign Service and the most decorated diplomat in his Cabinet, amid a frantic effort to evacuate people from Kabul international airport in what...
Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns met in person with top Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar during a low-publicity rendezvous in Kabul on Monday.
Burns, a former diplomat and deputy secretary of state, traveled to the war-torn capital city of Kabul in Afghanistan for undisclosed negotiations with Baradar, according to reports first shared by the Washington Post. While the CIA has remained tight-lipped about the details of the meeting, Burns's position as CIA director and a former high-ranking member of the State Department makes him the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with the...
MSgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Force
The director of the CIA met with the Taliban’s top political leader in Kabul, an official said Tuesday, as more reports emerged of abuses in areas held by the fighters, fueling concerns about Afghanistan’s future and the fate of those racing to leave the country before the looming U.S. withdrawal.
Recent days have seen a flurry of efforts to speed a chaotic evacuation of foreigners and vulnerable Afghans from Kabul’s airport, where scenes of desperation have highlighted both the disarray of the American pullout and fears that the Taliban will...
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