President Biden has promised to support Afghanistan’s central government even after the U.S. completes its troop withdrawal by a September 11 deadline. Biden made the promise during talks at the White House Friday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, chair of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation. President Ghani said after the White House meeting he still hoped to engage the Taliban in dialogue.

President Ashraf Ghani: “Force is not the way to compel an Afghan to submission. We still call on them to have a ceasefire and to engage in a political process, because a political settlement is the ultimate mechanism of ending a war. As Lincoln said, the best way of turning — treating an enemy is to turn him into a friend.”

President Ghani’s visit to Washington came amid a rapid advance by the Taliban into areas formerly held by the Afghan government — roughly doubling the territory under Taliban control in just the last two months.