KABUL, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Monday announced a 1-billion-U.S.-dollar cut in economic aid to Afghanistan after a top U.S. diplomat failed to encourage Afghan political rivals to resolve differences and form an inclusive government and implement a peace agreement with the Taliban.
The decision was made after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, following a brief visit to Kabul, said he was regretted to have been informed by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah that they were unable to agree on an inclusive government.
Pompeo also warned to reduce aid by another 1 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, unless the two key Afghan rivals are able to agree to form an inclusive government.
A retired media expert, Mir Ahmad Shah, said Washington's decision to cut aid is "only a pressure by the United States on the Afghan (rivaling) leaders to agree on an inclusive government that could facilitate the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners and American troops' withdrawal as part of a bilateral agreement signed with the outfit in Doha."
Eventually the political stalemate would end and the aid would resume to Afghanistan, he said.
On Feb. 18, Afghan election commission declared Ghani winner of the presidential election nearly five months after the voting, but his rival Abdullah disputed the result.
Ghani and Abdullah both took oath as president of Afghanistan on March 9.
Ahmad Shah hoped the current political impasse will end as the Afghan public were tired of such long and inconclusive power vying.
"I believe Abdullah Abdullah is ready to relinquish competing on presidency in case a political dialogue with the Taliban required an interim leadership," Ahmad Shah said.
"The current political impasse is temporal and will not last long. The difference between Ghani and Abdullah cannot continue under current circumstances, and the country needs an inclusive government to be able to send its representative for a direct negotiation with Taliban," he said.
Regarding the possibility of the resumption of an intra-Afghan dialogue, he said this is "the only and final option."
President Ghani said Tuesday that reduction in economic aid to Afghanistan would not have an impact on the country's key sectors and departments.
"Governments always have plans for prudential circumstances. We also had some basic plans for the unexpected situation," Ghani said in a televised speech.
"I can assure that the reduction in U.S. assistance will not have direct impact on our departments and sectors. We will try to fill the vacuum with the help of alternative resources," he said.
The United States and the Taliban inked a peace deal on Feb. 29 to end America's longest war in its history, paving the way for the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops and facilitating intra-Afghan dialogues to find a negotiated settlement to Afghanistan's lingering crisis.
Under the agreement, the United States was to secure the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners from Afghan government's jails within 10 days after signing the peace deal to facilitate direct talks between the Taliban group and the Afghan government.
In return for the prisoners' release, the Taliban agreed to set free 1,000 Afghan security personnel who are in the armed group's custody.
However, the Afghan government refused to release the Taliban detainees, demanding the Taliban group observe the ceasefire and initiate talks with the government ahead of the detainees' release, but the Taliban rejected the condition.
"Dozens of Afghanistan peace-related meetings were hosted by many countries, but none of them worked, as none of them was without interferences. The Afghan government and the Taliban have no way but to join direct negotiation for reaching an agreement that could implement a lasting ceasefire and end long war and violence in the country," Ahmad Shah said.
