After the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the US special envoy for the country, Zalmay Khalilzad, resigns from his post.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Monday evening (local time) that Khalilzad's previous deputy, Thomas West, would succeed him in office.

"I thank Ambassador Khalilzad for his service and I welcome the Special Representative West in this role."

After US President Joe Biden announced the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban took power again in mid-August - around two weeks before the planned end of the US mission.

Architect of the Doha Agreement

Khalilzad was already the special envoy for Afghanistan under the Republican US President Donald Trump.

He was instrumental in negotiating an agreement signed in Doha last February between the Trump administration and the Taliban - the Afghan government was excluded from the negotiations.

The agreement provided for a complete withdrawal of US troops at the end of May this year and, according to experts, paved the way for the Taliban to come back to power.

In April, the Democrat Biden announced that the mission would end at the end of August, but did not attach any conditions to the Taliban.

The advance of the militant Islamists then picked up speed.

After the Taliban came to power in Kabul, there were chaotic evacuations at the capital's airport.

Shortly before the end of the US evacuation mission, 13 US soldiers and dozens of Afghans were killed in an attack at the airport.

Massive criticism of the world community

Biden's government has come under massive pressure over the Afghanistan debacle. The president argued that he was faced with the choice of withdrawing troops or escalating the war against the Taliban. However, experts had pointed out several ways that could have been between these two extremes. The fact that Biden decided to withdraw the US troops and thus the end of the international mission unauthorizedly and despite the enormous concerns of allies, caused displeasure in European governments.

For the native Afghan Khalilzad (70), the resignation could mean the end of a long diplomatic career.

He joined the US State Department in 1985.

From 2003 to 2005 he was US Ambassador to Afghanistan, and in the following two years he represented the United States in Iraq.

He was then US Ambassador to the United Nations in New York until 2009.

He was appointed special envoy for Afghanistan by the Trump administration in September 2018.

He kept the post under the Biden government.