The US State Department plans to allocate more than $ 1 million for a project called “Peacekeeping Journalism” in Afghanistan. On Saturday, April 24, RT reports with reference to the description of the document.
It is specified that the initiative of the project is aimed at working with Islamic media on the part of the process of peaceful settlement of the situation. The public relations department of the US Embassy in Kabul will be directly involved in the project.
The plans of the project of the American authorities include such items as developing the capacity of the media in Afghanistan in the field of fact-checking, increasing coverage of the peace process and raising awareness about it.
It is noted that the item entitled “inform the public” about the process of normalizing the situation in Afghanistan has several factors, including the need to gain public support for efforts aimed at “a just and lasting peaceful settlement”.
A time period of two years and funds from the US Department of State in the amount of up to $ 750,000 are allotted for the implementation of the project to transform the Afghan media.At the same time, there is a possibility of extending the program for another additional year and increasing funding to $ 1.1 million.
On April 14, US President Joe Biden announced that the US would begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan on May 1. At the same time, it was previously assumed that by this date the American soldiers in full force would have already left the country.
As Jake Sullivan, the assistant to the American leader for national security, explained, Washington has achieved its goals set at the beginning of the operation in Afghanistan in 2001. According to him, the goal was to investigate the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States.
The official deadline for the completion of the withdrawal of the US contingent is September 11.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in turn, said that he respects the United States’ intention to withdraw the contingent, and expressed readiness to cooperate with American partners “to ensure a smooth transition.”
In February 2020, at a ceremony in Qatar, the United States and the radical Taliban movement (banned in Russia) signed the first peace agreement in more than 18 years of war. The Taliban have guaranteed that they will not use the territory of Afghanistan for actions that pose a threat to the security of the United States and its allies.