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On Monday, the CIA Director William Burns met with the Taliban’s leader in Kabul. It marks the group’s highest-level encounter with the Biden administration since the fall of the Afghan capital. News of the meeting between Burns and the Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Brother came one week before the 31^st August deadline for the US military to complete its evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies from Kabul. A White House official said at least 21,600 people were evacuated On Monday and Tuesday from the capital over a 24-hour period, including 12,700 evacuees on 37 military flights. A US defense official said the military expected a decision from the White House on Tuesday on whether or not the US will leave Afghanistan after the deadline of 31^st August 2021.

The Taliban has allowed the American evacuation effort. The US officials have warned that the massive crowds could be a target for a terrorist attack by the group known as ISIS-K. A Taliban spokesperson informed a news channel that extending operations beyond 31^st August would be a violation of the US commitment to withdraw. He said, “The response depends on the decision of our leadership”. Ghani Brother is a longtime Taliban official and was arrested by the CIA in a joint operation with Pakistan’s intelligence service in 2010 in Karachi. He went free in 2018 after the US pushed for his release while starting talks with the Taliban. Burns is the first career diplomat to lead the CIA. He has served as deputy secretary of state from 2011 to 2014 after spending more than three decades at the State Department.

Burns described the secret bilateral talks as “The Back Channel”, which he led with Iran during the Obama administration alongside Jake Sullivan, now President Biden’s national security adviser. The talks eventually headed up to the nuclear deal with Tehran. Burns has acknowledged in interviews and congressional testimony that the ability of the United States to collect and act on terror threats will moderate following the military’s withdrawal. But the CIA would retain a suite of capabilities to monitor potential plots. Pentagon and intelligence officials have also warned that al Qaeda and other terror groups would likely seek to regain an ability to launch attacks on the US targets. On Monday, the State Department said discussions with the Taliban had been operational, tactical, and largely focused on our near-term operations and near-term objectives.