War and Peace. Obstacles rising in the way of intra-Afghan talks. The two documents together are supposed to open the door for intra-Afghan peace talks, ie between the Taleban and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 10 March. It was witnessed by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo here his Doha speech and ministers and top diplomats from almost 30 other countries, but not anyone from the Afghan government or any other representative of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan IRoA.
Find the full text of the agreement here. The second guarantee stipulates the actions the Taleban must take to deal with a major US security concern. The US withdrawal is to be phased and only the second and final phase is conditions-based. Firstly, days after the signing of the agreement, ie by mid-July , the US will have reduced its troop numbers to 8, currently there are , and to fully withdraw from five military bases; NATO allies and other coalition forces will also be reduced proportionally.
This is ten days after the signing of the agreement a provision that was also reported as included in an earlier draft of the agreement that was almost signed in September already; read AAN background here. This agreement puts few obligations on the Taleban. There is no provision that commits the Taleban to hand over or expel foreign fighters.
The US has agreed to:. Divergences between the two documents will be noted below. The declaration says:. The U. S-Taliban agreement paves the way for intra-Afghan negotiations on a political settlement and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan reaffirms its readiness to participate in such negotiations and its readiness to conclude a ceasefire with the Taliban. Significantly, this declaration does not refer to 10 March as the date by which intra-Afghan peace talks should commence. This stipulation about a framework agreement is interesting. He first reached a framework agreement with the Taleban, which set out the agenda for the negotiations and committed both parties to talk, in January AAN background here.
