Deadly Bomb Blast Rocks Kabul, as a US-Taliban Peace Deal to Be Signed on February 29, 2020


Taliban fighters, file, February 28, 2020	US soldiers in Afghanistan, file, February 28, 2020

Deadly Bomb Blast Rocks Kabul, Taliban Denies Involvement

ANI 28 Feb 2020

Kabul [Afghanistan], Feb 28 (Sputnik/ANI):

A bomb explosion killed a civilian and injured 10 others in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.

The explosive device was strapped onto a bicycle. It went off in the sixth security district at around 6:20 p.m. (13:20 GMT), he tweeted.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the militant group's role in the blast, which comes a day before a "reduction in violence" arrangement with the United States expires.

The Taliban and the US announced a cooling-off period last week, which took effect at midnight on Friday. They agreed to finalize a peace deal this Saturday if a week goes by without significant violence. (Sputnik/ANI)

https://www.afghanistannews.net/news/264157252/deadly-bomb-blast-rocks-kabul-taliban-denies-involvement

Former Taliban Hostage in Doha to Witness Signing the Peace Deal

Voice of America 28 Feb 2020

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -

Australian university professor Timothy Weeks, who was held captive for three years by the Taliban, arrived Thursday in Qatar in the Middle East to witness the signing of a peace deal between the U.S. and Taliban.

The Taliban maintain a political office in Qatar, where Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad conducted negotiations over 17 months to come up with the deal being signed Saturday in the capital of Doha. The agreement will open the door for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan and bring an end to 18 years of war.

Weeks was met at the airport by Anas Haqqani, who was freed from an Afghan jail in exchange for Weeks' release as well as American Kevin King. The two men, both professors at the American University of Afghanistan, were kidnapped in the Afghan capital in 2016. They were held by the Haqqani network.

Anas is the younger brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the chief of the feared Haqqani network, which is part of the Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted a picture of Weeks and Haqqani. Mujahid tweeted "Timothy Weeks - an Australian professor who was detained by the Islamic Emirate & later released arrived in Doha."

Weeks was invited to attend by the Taliban, Mujahid said.

Weeks said on his Twitter account: "I cannot believe I am here in Qatar and have met and spoken with Anas. I am blessed to be an official guest at the signing ceremony."

Although the full list of those attending Saturday's ceremony has not been identified, Pakistan and uneasy neighbor India are both invited, as is Russia. It's not clear who will attend from Kabul.

https://www.afghanistannews.net/news/264159360/former-taliban-hostage-in-doha-to-witness-peace-deal

Trump: We're Pretty Close to Afghan Peace Deal

Voice of America 26 Feb 2020

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI -

U.S. President Donald Trump says his administration is moving closer to a peace deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan, saying a week-long nationwide "reduction in violence" truce with the insurgent group is holding up "so far, so good."

Trump spoke to reporters in India at the conclusion of his two-day trip Tuesday, saying his Afghan peace initiative has received widespread backing and "everybody is happy about it," including New Delhi.

"We're pretty close. We will see what's going on. We have got two days now under our belt without violence, or I guess a minimum of violence, and we'll see what happens," Trump said of the temporary truce and upcoming possible peace agreement with the Taliban.

The mutually agreed seven-day reduced fighting deal went into effect last Saturday, with U.S.-backed Afghan forces and insurgents committing to not launching offensive operations.

The truce is to culminate on Feb. 29 with the signing of a U.S.-Taliban agreement in the Gulf state of Qatar. If inked, the agreement would end America's longest war, now in its 19th year, and would lead to a phased withdrawal of roughly 13,000 American troops from the country.

"After 19 years we would like to bring our young people back home," Trump noted. He said Washington is working hard to bring down the number of American troops to 8,600, and "from there we'll make a decision as to what the final outcome would."

Qatar hosted the contentious off-and-on U.S.-Taliban negotiations that have been taking place over the past 18 months. The draft agreement provides a timetable for the withdrawal of American and coalition forces from Afghanistan, Taliban counterterrorism guarantees, and a dialogue process for political reconciliation between Afghan parties involved in the conflict.

"The Taliban must respect the agreement, specifically regarding their promises of severing ties with terrorists. We're not required to leave unless they can demonstrate they're fulfilling every element of their end of the bargain," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday.

Afghanistan is 'very dangerous'

Trump defended his withdrawal plans, saying American troops in the country are no longer serving as a military force, but rather as a police force.

"The area is a hot bed of problems and when we bring them [U.S. troops] home, we'll let them [Taliban] know that if something happens we will hit them so hard," he said in a bid to addresses concerns the Taliban could violate the agreement and try to grab power in the post-war Afghanistan.

Trump once again said the United States easily could have won the Afghan war had he wanted to kill "millions of people, innocent people."

He noted that U.S. intelligence and other military means, however, would remain in place to watch the post-agreement situation in Afghanistan, describing the country as a "very dangerous" part of the world.

US anti-IS strikes

Trump's remarks came on a day the U.S. military said it conducted two counterterrorism airstrikes in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, killing at least four Islamic State fighters there.

"We continue to eliminate ISIS terrorists wherever they hide to protect Afghanistan while honoring the U.S.-Afghan-Taliban agreement to reduce the violence," stressed U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett in reference to the Middle Eastern terrorist group.

The war in Afghanistan has cost Washington nearly $1 trillion and the lives of about 2,400 military personnel.

https://www.afghanistannews.net/news/264134587/trump-were-pretty-close-to-afghan-peace-deal

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US-Taliban deal — a victory for Islamists?

DW, February 28, 2020

The US and the Taliban are set to sign an agreement on Saturday to end the 18-year-long war in Afghanistan. But analysts say it comes with many concessions for the insurgent group. Shamil Shams reports from Doha.

The stage is set in Doha for the signing ceremony of a much-anticipated US-Taliban deal. The agreement will be inked on Saturday, with high-ranking US officials, Taliban negotiators and delegates from various countries likely to participate in the historic event.

It is in Doha, the capital of Qatar, that US and Taliban negotiators have held several rounds of talks. Last year in August, the two sides came very close to finalizing a deal, but US President Donald Trump called off negotiations in September after the militants attacked American troops in Afghanistan.

But within weeks, the Doha talks were back on track, and in less than five months since Trump ended Qatar talks, the US and the Taliban are on the verge of signing an historic agreement. So what changed so drastically in such a short span of time that Washington is ready to seal a deal with one of its arch-enemies?

Seddiqi: 'We hope there's a real commitment by the Taliban'

A rushed, ambiguous deal?

Afghanistan experts say the deal is mainly about the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan — a key Taliban demand since the start of the conflict in 2001. President Trump needs to bring the troops back to American soil to boost his reelection chances this year, they say. It is one of the reasons behind a "rushed deal."

"Of course, that could be a consideration, but the US does not have that kind of leverage over the Taliban to get the deal done," Ali K. Chishti, a Pakistani security analyst who is familiar with Islamabad's role in the peace process, told DW.

"Actually, it is the Pakistani military establishment that gave an assurance to Washington on behalf of the Taliban — by using their influence on them. They made sure that the Pakistani Taliban force the Afghan Taliban to agree to stop attacks on American forces in Afghanistan," Chishti said, adding that Trump used his good ties with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to get the job done.

The agreement stipulates that the Trump administration will draw the US forces down to 8,600 soldiers from the 12,000 currently stationed in Afghanistan. That will be a significant reduction of American troops in Afghanistan, which will leave Afghan troops vulnerable to the Taliban pressure. In the aftermath of the US troop drawdown, President Ashraf Ghani's government could be forced to make more compromises with the Taliban during an intra-Afghan dialogue.

"Unfortunately, neither the US nor regional countries see the government in Kabul as a major stakeholder. Ghani is definitely a figurehead, but the US-Taliban deal has more to do with the Taliban, the US and Pakistan," Chishti underlined.

The agreement stipulates that the Trump administration will draw the US forces down to 8,600 soldiers from the 12,000 currently stationed in Afghanistan

Experts also say that there could not be any other way to pave the way for a much-needed political settlement in Afghanistan. The Taliban, allegedly backed by Pakistan, are quite strong in the battlefield despite a long US military campaign in the war-ravaged country. And the US cannot maintain an eternal presence in Afghanistan. In the end, a peace deal would require a proper negotiation between Afghan groups.

"We are concerned about the ambiguity of the deal and how scant information the people in Afghanistan have about what is being agreed upon between the US and the Taliban," Humaira Saqib, a Kabul-based rights activist, told DW.

"They are talking about the release of prisoners, but we do not know under what conditions will these people be released," she said.

"Washington says the Taliban and the Afghan government will hold talks after their deal with the insurgents, but the Taliban maintain they will not negotiate with the government directly. What will happen to the US-Taliban deal if the next stages in the peace process do not work?" Saqib questioned.

Complicated intra-Afghan talks ahead

An Afghan government delegation is present in Doha to witness the US-Taliban deal, however it is unclear if they are playing a part in it.

The Taliban dub the Afghan government a "US puppet" and have been reluctant to establish direct contact with them. Will that change once the US-Taliban agreement is done?

"The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has formed a committee to establish preliminary contact with the Taliban," Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesman for Afghan President Ghani, told DW. "We formed it after repeated demands by the Taliban that were conveyed to us by our international allies," he added.

The Taliban, however, continue to downplay the significance of the Afghan government in the process.

"We have not invited the Afghan government delegation to Doha. If the US has invited them, it does not concern us," Sohail Shaheen, the Taliban's spokesman in Doha and a member of the group's negotiating team, told DW.

"We will proceed according to the framework agreed in the deal with the US. The framework is clear — we'll first sign the deal, which will be followed by a trust-building phase," Shaheen said. "During the trust-building phase, 5,000 of our prisoners in Afghan jails, and 1,000 prisoners who belong to the Afghan government, will be released. Only after these steps can an intra-Afghan dialogue start."

Additional reporting by Masood Saifullah.

https://www.dw.com/en/us-taliban-deal-a-victory-for-islamists/a-52573881

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