WASHINGTON (Reuters] -Zalmay Khalilzad was the top U.S. envoy in Afghanistan. He resigned Monday. The announcement came less than two months following the chaos U.S. withdrawal form Afghanistan and Taliban overthrow of that country.

Khalilzad is being replaced by Tom West, his deputy. This was announced in a statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He noted that West will closely work with the U.S.embassy in Doha on U.S. concerns in Afghanistan.

An anonymous source said that Khalilzad resigned on Friday.

He was expelled from Biden’s initial formal negotiations with Taliban officials following the U.S. withdrawal, which took place in Doha in October.

Khalilzad has not yet responded to our request for comment.

Khalilzad is a native Afghan who held this position since 2018. He also led negotiations with Taliban to bring about the Feb 2020 agreement on the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Then, he pressed both the Western-backed government and the militant Islamist group of Ashraf Ghani (ex-Afghan President) to reach a settlement. This would end decades of conflict.

Mid-August saw the collapse of the government as the Taliban marched unopposed into Kabul’s capital. Khalilzad was still seeking help from the militants to aid in U.S. citizen evacuations and the rescue of at-risk Afghans serving the U.S. government.

Current and former U.S. officials told Reuters earlier that in the three years Khalilzad had been in the role, he became the face https://www.reuters.com/world/us/brokering-exit-afghanistan-us-envoy-khalilzad-became-face-diplomatic-debacle-2021-09-10 of one of the largest U.S. diplomatic failures in recent memory.

According to U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity they said that the Afghan veteran diplomat gave up his leverage and continued to undermine the government in Afghanistan.

CNN was the first to report Khalilzad’s plans to resign.