ZCZC
BFF-01
AFGHANISTAN-US-DIPLOMACY-TALIBAN-QATAR
US, Taliban push for peace in day 2 of talks
DOHA, Aug 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US and the Taliban will seek to thrash
out elements of a deal to bring a close to Afghanistan’s 18-year conflict in
the second day of renewed talks in Doha on Sunday.
The US, which invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban in 2001, wants to
withdraw thousands of troops and turn the page on 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.
The talks, now in their eighth round, began on Saturday and were due to
resume Sunday morning after pausing overnight, US and Taliban sources told
AFP.
A Taliban source also said efforts were underway to organise a direct
meeting between US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban co-
founder Mullah Baradar, who heads the movement’s political wing.
A coalition led by Washington ousted the Taliban in late 2001 accusing it
of harbouring Al-Qaeda jihadists who claimed the September 11 attacks against
the US that killed almost 3,000 people.
But despite a rapid conclusion to the conventional phase of the war, the
Taliban have proved formidable insurgents, bogging down US troops for years.
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 elections 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”.
“We are pursuing a peace agreement not a withdrawal agreement, a peace
agreement that enables withdrawal,” 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.”
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.
– ‘Negotiations will be tough’ –
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.”
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.
Kabul resident Somaya Mustafa, 20, said her country desperately needed a
peace deal, but only one in which the Taliban “accept women and their
achievements”.
“It is a total mess in our country right now. And if it continues, women
will suffer more than anyone else.”
The United Nations has said that civilian casualty rates across Afghanistan
matched record levels last month, following a dip earlier in the year.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0814 hrs