US, Taliban close to peace deal
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A peace deal between the United States and the Taliban could happen this month if the Taliban significantly reduces violence, which could then lead to an eventual withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, two Afghan government sources and a Western diplomat said yesterday.
The tentative timeline shared by sources came a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said there had been a possible breakthrough in US-Taliban talks in Qatar.
The talks had been deadlocked in part over a US demand that insurgents agree to sharply reduce violence as part of any American troop-withdrawal accord.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Qatar’s capital, Doha, said progress has been made, but refused to share further details of the potential deal.
Doha has been the location for talks between the warring sides since 2018 even as fighting has continued across the country, killing hundreds of civilians and soldiers as the Taliban have expanded their territorial control.
A third Afghan official said the US has agreed in principle to a deal, but it would not be signed until the Taliban could demonstrate a reduction in violence.
The deal could be signed as soon as this month, the official said.
A Western diplomat in Kabul said US negotiators are hopeful the Taliban will agree to reduce violence for at least 10 days with no major violations.
“It is after those 10 days that both sides can hold mutual talks and firm up plans to hold intra-Afghan dialogue,” said one official concerned.
There are about 13,000 US forces, as well as thousands of other NATO troops, in Afghanistan, 18 years after a US-led coalition invaded the country following the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks on the US.
The US hopes to reduce troop numbers to about 9,000, a diplomat said.
The news of a potential agreement to decrease violence comes amid continued attacks in the country by the hardline insurgent group that controls about 40 percent of the country, according to Afghan defense officials.
Last month the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a US government agency, reported there had been a record number of attacks carried out by the Taliban and other anti-government forces during the last three months of 2019.
The Taliban stage attacks almost every day, and although the group is negotiating with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, it refuses to talk directly to Ghani’s government, calling it a puppet of the West.
The ongoing negotiations mark the highest level talks between the two sides since the US ramped up peace efforts in 2018.
“We will stop all attacks in return for US commitment to cease all their operations against us in Afghanistan,” said a Taliban commander.
Earlier this month, Taliban religious leaders delivered a strong message to the US through their negotiation team requesting a peace accord before the onset of the spring fighting season.
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