Thomas West, during his three-year tenure as the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, funneled more than two billion dollars in aid from the Biden administration into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The mission of Thomas West, the senior U.S. diplomat, ended after serving as the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan for three years. On Tuesday, October 1st, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that West would now assume leadership of the State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination.
West replaced Zalmay Khalilzad in October 2021, following the conclusion of Khalilzad’s term, who had been appointed in 2018 as the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Peace. Throughout his term, West met with Taliban leaders multiple times in Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Istanbul.
Since 2018, when Donald Trump appointed Zalmay Khalilzad to negotiate with the Taliban, Thomas West served as Khalilzad's deputy, working closely with him during negotiations with the Taliban and the signing of the Doha peace agreement, which led to the withdrawal of U.S. and international coalition forces from Afghanistan. Khalilzad resigned from his role on October 18, 2021, about two months after the rapid collapse of the Afghan Republic government and the Taliban's return to power, which followed the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Khalilzad has been accused by former Afghan government officials of engineering the negotiation process in favor of the Taliban. He was also accused of conceding to the Taliban during the Doha talks and lobbying for them in the U.S., thus pushing the Biden administration into a rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan, effectively handing over power to the Taliban. Last week, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee held 15 senior officials of the Biden administration, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Zalmay Khalilzad, and 11 others, responsible for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. The condemnation resolution was passed with a majority vote in the House of Representatives. Khalilzad, in numerous interviews, denied the accusations, stating that the U.S. insisted on ending its presence in Afghanistan under any circumstances.
Nevertheless, following Khalilzad’s resignation from the position of U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Peace, his deputy, Thomas West, assumed the role. The U.S. State Department's announcement in late October 2021 regarding West's appointment referred to his position as "Special Representative for Afghanistan," whereas Khalilzad's mission had been titled "Special Representative for Afghanistan Peace."
"Maintaining International Unity in Dealing with the Taliban"
Engagement with the Taliban and mobilizing global governments toward this path were among Thomas West’s main slogans after assuming the position of Special Representative for Afghanistan. According to the State Department’s announcement about West's mission, mobilizing international efforts to engage with the Taliban and garnering global support for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan were among the key goals of the Special Representative.
When the Taliban returned to power, they inherited a collapsed government and empty banks, while the number of impoverished people needing assistance rapidly increased from 18 million to 25 million. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the outflow of capital from Afghanistan to neighboring countries, the halt in manufacturing companies, the flight of investors, and the termination of economic and developmental projects by international organizations resulted in the loss of about 700,000 jobs in Afghanistan. In this situation, West, acting as the Taliban regime’s savior, attended numerous meetings from New York to Doha, from Istanbul to Moscow, to draw the world's economic support towards Afghanistan. As a result of these efforts, the U.S. committed to sending its aid in cash to Afghanistan, injecting it into the country’s banks, including the Taliban-controlled national bank, to compensate for the liquidity shortage in the market.
While the Afghan currency (Afghani) witnessed an unprecedented fall against the dollar in the initial months of Taliban rule, U.S. cash aid and dollar injections into Afghan markets prevented this decline from continuing. By November 2021, the exchange rate had reached 95 Afghanis to one dollar, but three years later, the exchange rate is 68 Afghanis to the dollar, indicating a strengthening of the Afghan currency against the dollar.
In October 2022, Thomas West announced the printing of 100 billion Afghanis in new banknotes in Poland, which were handed over to the Taliban-controlled Afghan Central Bank. This action was part of West’s efforts to stabilize Afghanistan’s domestic market and prevent the collapse of the country's banks and currency, playing a vital role in mitigating the liquidity crisis.
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported in July this year that from August 2021 to July 2024, the United Nations transferred $2.8 billion in cash to Afghanistan, with $2.1 billion provided by the U.S., and the remainder by various governments under the guise of humanitarian aid. SIGAR wrote that the cash shipments to Kabul had stabilized the Afghan currency against the dollar and other foreign currencies, and had helped revive some businesses. SIGAR added that the Taliban had access to humanitarian aid and used it to strengthen their regime.
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| Thomas West- HashteSubhDaily |
Despite SIGAR reports of Taliban officials embezzling humanitarian aid and repeated requests from Congress members to halt sending American taxpayers' money to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Thomas West, until the last day of his mission, insisted on continuing and increasing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. Michael McCaul, Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, repeatedly criticized the Biden administration's cash shipments to Afghanistan, claiming that the money was used to strengthen terrorism and sustain the Taliban regime.
Release of American Hostages from Taliban Captivity
Another of Thomas West’s goals as Special Representative for Afghanistan was the release of American citizens taken hostage by the Taliban over the past three years. During his tenure, West held numerous meetings with Taliban officials, including Abdul Haq Wasiq, Head of Intelligence, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, Minister of Defense, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other Taliban officials in Doha and Abu Dhabi. Most of these meetings focused on discussions about humanitarian aid, Taliban engagement with the world, the release of American hostages, and the follow-up on the commitments made in the Doha Agreement.
In September 2022, Mark Frerichs, an American contractor kidnapped by the Taliban in Kabul in 2020, was exchanged for Haji Bashir Noorzai, an international drug trafficker. Noorzai had been convicted in the U.S. for drug trafficking and financing Taliban terrorist activities and was sentenced to life in prison. Despite numerous meetings between West and Taliban officials, the fate of three other American citizens—Mahmoud Habibi, Ryan Corbett, and George Golzman—who were taken hostage by the Taliban on various charges, remains unclear.
As West’s mission came to an end, it appears that efforts to secure the release of American hostages will now be continued by Karen Decker, the U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Afghanistan, who operates out of Doha, Qatar. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has remained closed since August 2021, with no decision yet made regarding its reopening.
Failure of the Policy of Engagement with the Taliban
Engagement with the Taliban and drawing the world’s attention to this issue were key components of West’s mission. However, after three years, even the U.S. has retreated from this stance. The Doha process, initiated by the United Nations and the U.S. to establish a framework for dialogue between the Taliban and the world, faced a deadlock after three rounds of meetings with special envoys from various governments for Afghanistan. Last week, Rosemary DiCarlo, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, stated at a U.N. Security Council meeting that due to Taliban policies, the Doha process risks being halted, and world governments have little interest in continuing their involvement.
In the past three years, the Taliban has issued over 70 decrees against human rights, women, girls, and the basic rights of the Afghan people. Despite pressure and recommendations from the U.S., the U.N., and other governments, these decrees—depriving women and girls of education and employment, and men of their civil rights—remain in force.
In conclusion, Thomas West’s mission ended without achieving progress in improving human rights in Afghanistan, altering the Taliban’s behavior, or securing the release of all American hostages. The one accomplishment of West’s three-year tenure appears to be saving the Taliban regime from collapsing under an economically bankrupt system, by injecting approximately three billion dollars in cash under the guise of humanitarian aid into the Afghan economy, with $2.1 billion of that provided by the Biden administration.
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