On Tuesday, July 13, 2021, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) held a special conversation with Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, President of the American Academy of Diplomacy and former US Ambassador to Afghanistan. Distinguished politicians, academics, civil society members, and media representatives attended the event.

In his speech, Neumann said that US support will remain strong after the withdrawal of US troops. "What Afghans themselves can do for themselves and their country is far more effective than what foreign forces can do," he said. If the defense forces show resilience in the face of the current situation and the people support them, the Taliban will face a big defeat. He said it was important to have a military base in the region to strengthen the Afghan military, and that since American policy is not intended to establish a permanent military base, it would be more difficult to support Afghan forces now.

"I think the Russians are very realistic," he said. They do not want terrorism to go from Afghanistan to Central Asia. But because of realism, they want to have relations with the Taliban as well. I do not have accurate intelligence information about China. It is not clear to me exactly what China's policy on Afghanistan is. Chinese diplomats once told me that they had a "supervisory and passive" policy on Afghanistan.