Report: Blinken offers plan to bolster Afghan peace process

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is proposing a series of steps to help jumpstart Afghanistan’s stalled peace process between the government and Taliban. That’s according to a letter from Blinken to Afghanistan’s president, Ashfraf Ghani, published Sunday by Afghanistan’s TOLONews. The letter calls for bringing the two sides together for a U.N.-facilitated conference with foreign ministers and envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India and the United States “to discuss a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan.” Blinken says in the letter that the Biden administration continues to weigh a full U.S. troop withdrawal by May 1 as negotiated by the Trump administration.