Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- It’s time for the US troops in Afghanistan to return home. But the speed of the withdrawal of the American military and the maintenance of the counter-terrorism contingent in Afghanistan remain questionable. Undoubtedly, the Trump administration took commendable steps towards ending the US war in Afghanistan, linking the withdrawal of its troops to the fulfillment of the conditions by the Taliban in accordance with the Doha Agreement of 29 February 2020. 

However, the Taliban still maintain ties with terrorist organizations and generate high levels of violence in the country. And D. Trump, by the end of his presidency, undermined the efforts of the international community to persuade Taliban to fulfill their obligations by his statement on a sharp reduction in troops from 4.5 to 2.5 thousand by 15 January 2020 regardless of the Taliban’s fulfillment of the terms of the Doha deal.

Despite NATO’s pledge to continue the Resolute Support mission despite the US withdrawal process, experts doubt the Organization will be able to fulfill its obligations to the Afghan government without Washington’s backing. Today NATO has about 12,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, over 40% of whom are US military personnel. At the same time, the Organization is heavily dependent on the US military for transportation and logistics. And President-elect George Biden is unlikely to abandon the Trump administration’s plan to leave Afghanistan.

However, the Biden administration will have the opportunity to prevent the region from plunging into chaos by continuing to provide financial assistance to Afghanistan. At the same time, the future head of the White House should work closely with regional countries to stabilize Afghanistan and support their efforts in this direction to prevent a sharp aggravation of the situation after the US leaves the country.

Today there is a rare case when Iran, Russia, China, Pakistan, on the one hand, unanimously support the responsible withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, and on the other, they share a common interest with Washington - preventing the collapse of Afghanistan. 

In this regard, the Biden administration has more opportunities to realize the positive potential of regional diplomacy than Donald Trump, whose "anti-Iranian and anti-Chinese" policy did not allow Afghanistan’s key neighbors to be fully involved in the peace process, which, in turn, is crucial for establishing peace in Afghanistan.