U.S. cuts $1 billion in Afghan aid over leaders' impasse: Pompeo

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday the United States was cutting one billion U.S. dollars in aid to Afghanistan, voicing disappointment that rival leaders pressed by him on a visit failed to form an inclusive government.

"The United States is disappointed in them and what their conduct means for Afghanistan and our shared interests," Pompeo said in a statement after his talks in Kabul with President Ashraf Ghani and Ghani's rival Abdullah Abdullah.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (C) and first Vice President Amrullah Saleh at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 23, 2020. /AP

"Their failure has harmed U.S.-Afghan relations and, sadly, dishonors those Afghans, Americans and coalition partners who have sacrificed their lives and treasure in the struggle to build a new future for this country."

Pompeo said the U.S. was immediately reducing one billion U.S. dollars in aid and would pull another one billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

The United States will consider further cuts, he added, including withdrawing support at any future donor conference.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Abdullah Abdullah, the main political rival of President Ashraf Ghani at the Sepidar Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 23, 2020. /AP

"We have tried … for the last several weeks to try to find the formula and encourage them to come to an agreement," the State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

She added that Pompeo has come "to help push, to encourage and to point out what our expectations are and what that assessment is if they don't do the right thing."

Pompeo issued the statement after he stopped on his way back in Qatar for talks with Taliban insurgents in the highest-level talks between the insurgents and the United States.

At Qatar's al-Udeid Air Base, home to U.S. forces, Pompeo went into a closed-door meeting with three Taliban leaders including Mullah Baradar, the Afghan insurgents' formerly imprisoned top negotiator, Ortagus said.

According to Ortagus, the top U.S. diplomat will "press them to comply with the agreement signed last month."

U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad (L) and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, shake hands after signing a peace agreement between Taliban and the U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar, February 29, 2020. /AP

It marked the highest-level meeting ever between the U.S. and the Taliban, who signed a landmark deal on February 29 that set in motion a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan that aims to end America's longest war launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

(With input from AFP)