ZCZC
BFF-27
AFGHANISTAN-US-DIPLOMACY-TALIBAN-QATAR
US eyes breakthrough in push for peace with Taliban
DOHA, Aug 3, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Washington is hoping for a breakthrough as
talks between the US and the Taliban resumed in Doha on Saturday in a bid to
end 18 years of war in Afghanistan.
The US, which invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban in 2001, wants to
withdraw thousands of troops and draw down its longest ever war.
But it would first seek assurances from the insurgents that they would
renounce Al-Qaeda and stop other militants like the Islamic State group using
the country as a haven.
Washington is hoping to strike a peace deal with the Taliban by September 1
— ahead of Afghan polls due the same month, and US presidential polls due in
2020.
US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that
“we’ve made a lot of progress. We’re talking”. A coalition led by Washington
ousted the Taliban accusing it of harbouring Al-Qaeda jihadists who claimed
the September 11, 2001 attacks against the US that killed almost 3,000
people.
“We are pursuing a peace agreement not a withdrawal agreement, a peace
agreement that enables withdrawal,” US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad
tweeted on Friday as he arrived in Doha after talks with Pakistani Prime
Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad.
“Our presence in Afghanistan is conditions-based, and any withdrawal will
be conditions-based.”
– ‘No Afghan is inferior’ –
In another sign of progress, the Afghan government has formed a negotiating
team for separate peace talks with the Taliban that diplomats hope could be
held as early as later this month.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that an initial deal to end the war
would see the US force in Afghanistan reduced to as low as 8,000 from the
current level of around 14,000.
In exchange, the Taliban would abide by a ceasefire, renounce Al-Qaeda, and
talk to the Kabul administration.
An Afghan official hinted last week that the government of President Ashraf
Ghani was preparing for direct talks with the Taliban, the details of which
have yet to be announced.
“We have no preconditions to begin talks, but the peace agreement is not
without conditions,” Ghani wrote in Pashto on his Facebook page on Friday
ahead of the talks.
“We want a republic government not an emirate,” he said, a challenge to the
Taliban which has insisted on reverting to the “Islamic Emirate” name
Afghanistan bore under its rule.
“The negotiations will be tough, and the Taliban should know that no Afghan
is inferior in religion or courage to them.”
– ‘Joined at the hip’ –
Council on Foreign Relations counter-terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman said
that he doubted the Taliban would ever renounce Al-Qaeda — potentially
hindering any deal.
“I believe that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda will remain joined at the hip,” he
told AFP, questioning the sense of “believing the word of terrorist
organisations”.
“The Taliban can negotiate with the United States,” he added but suggested
that the Taliban would be unlikely to break their personal pledges to Al-
Qaeda.
“It means that Al-Qaeda was going to continue fighting, counting on that
once the US left Afghanistan it (the US) wasn’t going to come back.
“Al-Qaeda and the Taliban would have free rein. It’s not a far-fetched
assumption.”
The thorny issues of power-sharing with the Taliban, the role of regional
powers including Pakistan and India, and the fate of Ghani’s administration
also remain unresolved.
The latest US-Taliban encounter follows last month’s talks between
influential Afghans and the Taliban which agreed a “roadmap for peace” — but
stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.
Younger Afghans, whose lives have been overshadowed by almost two decades
of war, are sceptical any deal will bring peace.
“We cannot trust the Taliban and their commitments because they were cruel
and oppressive in their regime,” said Abdul Jamil Qureshi, a 23-year-old
psychology student at Kabul University.
Apparently believing they have the upper hand in the war, the Taliban have
kept up attacks even while talking to the United States and agreeing to the
Afghan dialogue.
The United Nations has said that civilian casualty rates across Afghanistan
jumped back to record levels last month, following a dip earlier in the year.
More than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the conflict in July,
the highest monthly toll so far in 2019 and the deadliest single month since
May 2017.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1858 hrs