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The combined effect of freezing Afghanistan's sovereign assets and terminating all US humanitarian aid has created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in which millions face starvation. UN officials have explicitly warned the policy will directly cause deaths, particularly among children.
The Trump administration's Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad negotiated the Doha Agreement with Taliban representatives over 18 months. The Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani was excluded from the negotiations — the Taliban refused to negotiate with the Ghani government and the U.S. accepted this condition. The agreement required the U.S. to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, including senior military commanders, in exchange for the Taliban releasing 1,000 Afghan security forces. The Taliban made no commitment to halt offensive operations against Afghan forces. The U.S. military assessment was that the Taliban were not fulfilling the agreement's anti-terrorism requirements before the withdrawal was completed.
U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad led 18 months of negotiations with Taliban representatives in Doha, Qatar while refusing Taliban demands to include the Afghan government. The Afghan government, which the U.S. had spent nearly two decades and $2 trillion supporting, was effectively presented with the agreement as a fait accompli. Trump personally called Taliban leader Mullah Baradar in a phone call. As part of the deal, the U.S. pressured Afghan President Ghani to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, including commanders. After Biden inherited the deal, he extended the deadline and withdrew forces in August 2021; the Afghan government collapsed in days.