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US-AFGHANISTAN-TALIBAN-CONFLICT-PEACE
Taliban have ‘not met their commitments’ in Afghan peace deal: Pentagon
WASHINGTON, Jan 29, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – The Taliban are not meeting the
promises they made in the peace agreement with the United States, including
reducing violence and cutting ties with Al-Qaeda, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“We are still involved in trying to get a negotiated settlement. The
Taliban have not met their commitments,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby said the new administration of President Joe Biden remains committed
to the February 2020 peace agreement set in Qatar between the United States
and the Afghan insurgent group.
That agreement required the Taliban to halt attacks on US forces, sharply
decrease the level of violence in the country, and advance peace talks with
the government in Kabul.
In return, the United States would steadily reduce its force level in the
country, and remove all forces by May 2021.
Kirby said there is “no change” to the US commitments made in the peace
deal.
However, he said, “the Taliban are not meeting their commitments to reduce
violence, and to renounce their ties to Al-Qaeda.”
As long as that remains the case, he said, “it’s going to be difficult for
anybody at that negotiating table” to stand by their own promises.
“In fact, it would not be the wise course,” he added, underling the US
commitment to ending the war “in a responsible way.”
Kirby said the US Defense Department is comfortable with the current level
of 2,500 US troops in the country, down from close to 13,000 a year ago.
It is enough to carry out the main US mission in the country now, to
counter the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda forces operating in Afghanistan, he
said.
But he would not say if the Pentagon would cut troop levels to zero by the
May deadline.
Much depends on whether the Taliban and the Afghan government can negotiate
a peace settlement, he said told reporters in a briefing at the Pentagon.
“I would say this to the leaders of the Taliban, that… they make it that
much more difficult for final decisions to be made about force presence by
their reticence to commit to reasonable, sustainable and credible
negotiations at the table,” he said.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0935 hs