US, Taliban sign peace agreement ending 18-year war

The US and the Taliban have signed a peace agreement aimed at ending the 18-year war in Afghanistan, America’s longest, reports theguardian.com.

The signing could help Donald Trump fulfil a key campaign promise to extract America from its “endless wars”. Under the agreement, the US will begin withdrawing thousands of troops in exchange for Taliban commitments to prevent Afghanistan from being a launchpad for terrorist attacks.

If the Taliban meet their commitments, all US troops would leave in 14 months.

The US invaded Afghanistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks to overthrow the Taliban, who had hosted Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida as they planned and celebrated the assault. Some US troops now serving there had not been born when the World Trade centre collapsed.

It only took a few months to topple the Taliban and send Osama bin Laden and top al-Qaida militants into Pakistan, but the war dragged on for years as the US tried establish a stable, functioning state in one of the least developed countries in the world. The Taliban regrouped, and currently hold sway over half the country. 

The US spent more than $750 billion and on all sides the war cost tens of thousands of lives lost, permanently scarred and indelibly interrupted. But the conflict was also frequently ignored by US politicians and the American public. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Saturday. He will stand with leaders of the Taliban, who harboured bin Laden and his al-Qaida network as they plotted, and then celebrated, the hijackings of four airliners that were crashed into lower Manhattan, the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania, killing almost 3,000 people.

t will likely be an uncomfortable appearance for Pompeo, who privately told a conference of US ambassadors at the state department this week that he was going only because Trump had insisted on his participation, according to two people present. It was not clear if he would actually sign the agreement. 

Dozens of Taliban members meanwhile held a small victory march in Qatar in which they waved the militant group’s white flags, according to a video shared on Taliban websites. 

“Today is the day of victory, which has come with the help of Allah,” said Abbas Stanikzai, one of the Taliban’s lead negotiators, who joined the march. 

Trump has repeatedly promised to get the US out of its “endless wars” in the Middle East, and the withdrawal of troops could provide a boost as he seeks re-election in a nation weary of involvement in distant conflicts. Troops are to be withdrawn to 8,600 from about 13,000 in the weeks following Saturday’s signing. 

Trump has approached the Taliban agreement cautiously, steering clear of the crowing surrounding other major foreign policy actions, such as his talks with North Korea. Last September, on short notice, he called off what was to be a signing ceremony with the Taliban at Camp David after a series of new Taliban attacks. 

But he has since been supportive of the talks led by his special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad. 

Under the agreement, the Taliban promise not to let extremists use the country as a staging ground for attacking the US or its allies. But US officials are loath to trust the Taliban. 

The prospects for Afghanistan’s future are uncertain. The agreement sets the stage for peace talks involving Afghan factions, which are likely to be complicated. Under the agreement, 5,000 Taliban are to be released from Afghan-run jails, but it’s not known if the Afghan government will do that. There are also questions about whether Taliban fighters loyal to various warlords will be willing to disarm. 

It’s not clear what will become of gains made in women’s rights since the toppling of the Taliban, which had repressed women and girls under a strict brand of Sharia law. Women’s rights in Afghanistan had been a top concern of both the Bush and Obama administration, but it remains a deeply conservative country, with women still struggling for basic rights. 

There are currently more than 16,500 soldiers serving under the Nato banner, of which 8,000 are American. Germany has the next largest contingent, with 1,300 troops, followed by Britain with 1,100. 

In all, 38 Nato countries are contributing forces to Afghanistan. The alliance officially concluded its combat mission in 2014 and now provides training and support to Afghan forces. 

The US has a separate contingent of 5,000 troops deployed to carry out counter-terrorism missions and provide air and ground support to Afghan forces when requested. 

Since the start of negotiations with the Taliban, the US has stepped up its air assaults on the Taliban as well as a local Islamic State affiliate. Last year the US air force dropped more bombs on Afghanistan than in any year since 2013. 

Seven days ago, the Taliban began a seven-day “reduction of violence” period, a prerequisite to the peace deal signing. 

“We have seen a significant reduction in violence in Afghanistan over the last days, and therefore we are also very close to the signing of an agreement between the United States and the Taliban,” Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said Friday in Brussels. 

He will be in Kabul later on Saturday for a separate signing ceremony with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and US defence secretary Mark Esper. That signing is intended to show continuing Nato and US support for Afghanistan. 

“The road to peace will be long and hard and there will be setbacks, and there is a risk always for spoilers,“ Stoltenberg said. “But the thing is, we are committed, the Afghan people are committed to peace, and we will continue to provide support.”