Afghanistan Will Ask U.S. to Rethink $1 Billion Cut to Aid
Afghanistan Will Ask U.S. to Rethink $1 Billion Cut to Aid by Ehsanullah Amiri and Dion Nissenbaum – Wall Street Journal
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday that he will ask the Trump administration to reconsider its vow to immediately cut $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan because of a political standoff in Kabul.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the deep cut after he failed to broker a diplomatic deal during a trip to Kabul on Monday meant to inject new momentum into the U.S.’s efforts to extricate itself from the war in Afghanistan.
Mr. Pompeo was unable to bridge a divide between Mr. Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s former chief executive officer who ran for president last year and refused to accept defeat amid widespread allegations of fraud.
Instead, Mr. Abdullah declared himself president and is trying to set up a parallel government operating out of a palace right next to Mr. Ghani’s presidential compound.
The impasse has undercut the Trump administration’s three-week-old deal with the Taliban that lays out a timetable for the U.S. to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by the middle of next year…