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US Agrees to Withdraw from Afghanistan in 18 Months, in Return for Taliban Pledge Not  to Give Al-Qaeda a Safe Haven

January 29, 2019

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad	Taliban representatives during the peace talks on Afghanistan held in Moscow on November 9, 2018

 

Taliban, US agree to draft peace framework

RNZ, 29 January 2019

US and Taliban negotiators have agreed on a draft framework for a peace deal seeking to put an end to the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan, Washington's top negotiator has said.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, was in Kabul to brief the Afghan government about the talks.

In a New York Times interview, Mr Khalilzad said the Taliban had pledged not to give terrorist groups like al-Qaeda safe haven - a key demand from Washington if it pulls out troops.

"We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement," he told The New York Times in an interview, adding that as part of the proposed deal the Taliban would vow to prevent Afghanistan being used as a hub for terrorism.

US negotiators held six days of talks with the Taliban in Qatar last week.

"The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals," he said.

Until the interview, the US envoy had only released a series of tweets about the talks - saying "significant progress" had been made but without providing details.

A senior Taliban official who attended the talks told the BBC over the weekend that both sides had agreed to form two committees to draw up detailed plans on how to implement agreements in principle on the two key issues: when US-led troops could be withdrawn from Afghanistan, and whether the Taliban would deny jihadist groups from using the country as a base.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the committees would "identify routes for the withdrawal, and how much time is needed. We suggested six months, but are flexible".

The discussions clearly remain at a provisional stage - and a long way from agreement on the broader issues required for lasting peace in Afghanistan - but after years of stalemate, it's welcome progress.

The Taliban ruled the country from 1996 until 2001 when the US invaded Afghanistan after al-Qaeda - which had used the country as a base - carried out the 9/11 attacks in the US.

They remain a top insurgent force in Afghanistan, with 17-year conflict causing between 6000 and 11,000 civilian deaths every year since 2009.

The Taliban's power and reach have surged since foreign combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014.

Thousands of Nato-led troops remain in training, support and counter-terrorism roles. The US has the largest contingent, with 14,000. US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering withdrawing half of these.

About 8000 troops from another 38 countries are also present.

Analysts say it could be years before a substantive peace deal is reached.

The Trump administration's strategy has been to put pressure on the Taliban to negotiate with the Afghan government.

It is exploring a full withdrawal of US troops in return for a ceasefire and a commitment by the Taliban to these direct talks.

The Taliban say they will only begin negotiations with the government once a firm date for troop withdrawal has been agreed.

Afghan president speaks out

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, meanwhile, has made a new call for direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, who have so far refused dismissing the government as "puppets".

Mr Ghani alluded to fears that freedoms could be lost if the Taliban were to share power. Women's rights activists have expressed particular concern due to the militants' brutal treatment of women when they ran the country.

"We are committed to ensuring peace," he said. "But there are values which are non-negotiable, for example national unity, national sovereignty, territorial integrity, a powerful and competent central government and basic rights of the citizens of the country."

According to Mr Ghani's office, Mr Khalilzad in a meeting on Sunday denied that there had been any discussions with the Taliban about future governance arrangements in Kabul.

On Friday, Mr Ghani said more than 45,000 members of the country's security forces had been killed since he became leader in 2014.

It is estimated about 15 million people - half the Afghan population - are living in areas either controlled by the Taliban or where the militants are openly present and regularly mount attacks.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/381162/taliban-us-agree-to-draft-peace-framework

Foreign troops to quit Afghanistan in 18 months under draft deal-Taliban officials

Arab News, January 26, 2019

KABUL/PESHAWAR:

Taliban negotiators and US officials meeting in Qatar finalized clauses in a draft agreement to end the 17-year-old Afghan war.

Taliban officials said US negotiators on Saturday agreed a draft peace deal stipulating the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan within 18 months of the agreement being signed.

The details were given to Reuters by Taliban sources at the end of six days of talks with US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar aimed at ending the United States’ longest war.

While neither side released an official statement, Khalilzad tweeted later that the talks had made “significant progress” and would resume shortly, adding that he planned to travel to Afghanistan to meet government officials.

“Meetings here (in Qatar) were more productive than they have been in the past. We have made significant progress on vital issues,” he wrote, adding that numerous issues still needed work.

“Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and everything must include an intra-Afghan dialogue and comprehensive cease-fire,” he said in the tweets.

A US State Department spokesperson declined further comment.

It was not clear if the draft described by the Taliban sources is acceptable to both sides or when it will be completed and signed.

According to the sources, the hard-line extremeist group gave assurances that Afghanistan will not be allowed to be used by Al-Qaeda and Daesh militants to attack the United States and its allies — a key early demand of Washington.

They said the deal included a cease-fire provision but they had yet to confirm a timeline and would only open talks with Afghan representatives once a truce was implemented.

Up until now, the Taliban has repeatedly rejected the Afghan government’s offer of holding talks, preferring instead to talk directly to the US side, which it regards as its main enemy.

“In 18 months, if the foreign forces are withdrawn and cease-fire is implemented then other aspects of the peace process can be put into action,” a Taliban source said, quoting from a portion of the draft.

More talks on the draft are expected in February, again in the Qatari capital Doha, the Taliban sources said.

They expect their side to be led by new political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the movement’s co-founder and a former military commander who was released from prison in Pakistan last year.

While they said his appointment had boosted momentum for a deal, it was unclear if he joined the talks.

Taliban officials believe the US was keen to get Baradar — who was captured in a joint Pakistani-US intelligence raid in 2010 — to the table so they could be sure of speaking to the movement’s most powerful figures.

NEAR-DAILY ATTACKS

Other clauses in the draft include an agreement over the exchange and release of prisoners, the removal of an international travel ban on several Taliban leaders by Washington and the prospect of an interim Afghan government after the cease-fire is struck, the Taliban sources said.

The suggestion to appoint an interim government in Afghanistan comes at a time when top politicians including Ghani have filed their nominations for the presidential polls in July this year. Ghani has repeatedly rejected the offer to agree to the formation of an interim government.

News of progress on a deal comes as the Taliban continues to stage near-daily attacks against the Western-backed Afghan government and its security forces.
Despite the presence of US-led foreign forces training, advising and assisting their Afghan counterparts 17 years after the US-led an invasion to drive them from power, the Taliban controls nearly half of Afghanistan.

Ghani said last week that 45,000 members of the country’s security forces had been killed since he took office in 2014.

The United States has some 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led mission, known as Resolute Support, as well as a US counter-terrorism mission directed at groups such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda.

Despite reports in December last year that the United States was considering pulling out almost half of its forces, a White House spokesman said that US President Donald Trump had not issued orders to withdraw the troops. However, the administration has not denied the reports, which have prompted fears of a fresh refugee crisis.

The Taliban sources also confirmed provisions in the draft that have broader implications for Afghanistan’s ties with its neighbors, particularly Pakistan, India and China.

They said the deal included provisions that Baloch separatist militants will not be allowed to use Afghan soil to target Pakistan.

Balochistan, a resource-rich yet often-neglected province in south west Pakistan, has been the source of separatist insurgencies for more than 60 years.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1442236/world

U.S., Taliban Agree In Principle To Afghan Peace 'Framework'

RFE, January 28, 2019 20:57 GMT

U.S. and Taliban officials have agreed in principle to the "framework" of a peace deal, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said after five days of talks between the militant group and the United States in Qatar. Both sides have said "progress" had been made in the talks aimed at ending the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan. “We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement,” Khalilzad said in an interview with The New York Times in Kabul on January 28.

In the framework, the militants agree to prevent Afghan territory from being used by groups such as Al-Qaeda to stage terrorist attacks. That could lead to a full pullout of U.S. combat troops, but only in return for the Taliban entering talks with the Afghan government and agreeing to a lasting cease-fire. The Taliban "committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals," Khalilzad was quoted as saying. "We felt enough confidence that we said we need to get this fleshed out, and details need to be worked out," he added, according to The New York Times.

The Western-backed government in Kabul has struggled to fend off a resurgent Taliban and other militant groups. The Taliban has so far refused to hold direct negotiations with Afghan government officials, whom they dismiss as "puppets."

In separate comments made at a meeting with the Afghan media in Kabul on January 28, Khalilzad said, "I have encouraged the Taliban to engage in direct talks with the Afghan government. It is our policy to get to intra-Afghan talks." The militants have said they will only begin talks with the government once a firm date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops has been agreed. In a televised address on January 28, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called on the Taliban to enter “serious” negotiations with the government in Kabul and "accept Afghans' demand for peace.” "Either they join the great nation of Afghanistan with a united voice, or be the tool of foreign objectives," he told the militant group. Ghani spoke after Khalilzad briefed him and other Afghan officials in Kabul on the six-day talks he held with Taliban representatives in the Qatari capital, Doha, last week. The president's office quoted Khalilzad as saying he had held talks about the withdrawal of foreign troops and a possible cease-fire, but nothing was agreed upon. "The U.S. insisted in their talks with the Taliban that the only solution for lasting peace in Afghanistan is intra-Afghan talks," Khalilzad said, according to a statement. "My role is to facilitate" such talks between the insurgents and Kabul, Khalilzad was quoted as saying. The U.S. envoy said on January 26 that the United States and the Taliban had made "significant progress," adding that the Doha talks were "more productive than they have been in the past."

He also emphasized that the sides “have a number of issues left to work out,” and that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

Meanwhile, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said peace talks between the United States and the Taliban were "encouraging." "I'd say really the takeaway right now: it's encouraging," Shanahan said at the Pentagon.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that while there was "progress" at the meetings, reports of an agreement on a cease-fire were "not true." Mujahid also said in a statement that talks about "unresolved matters" will continue. Until the withdrawal of international troops was hammered out, "progress in other issues is impossible," he insisted. Another round of peace talks between the Taliban and the United States was tentatively set for February 25, the Reuters news agency quoted a Qatari Foreign Ministry official as saying on January 28.

U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump wants to withdraw about half of the 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan. In reaction to the report, a senior Italian defense source was quoted by Reuters as saying that Italy was also considering pulling its troops out of Afghanistan within a year. "The time frame could be 12 months," the source said. Italy is currently committed to having 900 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission.

With reporting by The New York Times, AP, dpa, and AFP, and RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan

https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-envoy-briefs-afghan-president-on-peace-talks-with-taliban/29735424.html

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