US expert says Trump may be more willing than Biden to engage with IEA

Michael Kugelman, a US-based foreign policy expert and the Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, said on Thursday that president-elect Donald Trump may be more willing than incumbent President Joe Biden to engage with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

Kugelman said in a post on X that Trump will praise the IEA for its operations against Daesh and it will be something that will have his attention, given that he liked to claim credit for curbing Daesh.

Kugelman has in the past said that Trump, as president, would be less likely to focus on the state of women’s education and human rights in Afghanistan.

The IEA has expressed hope that under Trump, significant progress can be made in relations between Kabul and Washington.

In a post on X on Wednesday, the IEA’s foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the government hopes the future Trump administration “will take realistic steps toward concrete progress in relations between the two countries and both nations will be able to open a new chapter of relations”.

He underscored that during former president Trump’s first term in power he presided over a peace deal with the Islamic Emirate that paved the way for the US withdrawal in 2021 “after which the 20 year occupation ended”.

The Doha agreement was signed on February 29, 2020, in Qatar between the IEA and the United States under Trump, but excluded Afghanistan’s then-ruling government.