US, Taliban arrive at draft peace pact

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After six days of negotiations between Taliban and the United States, hosted by Qatar, both parties have agreed on a draft peace pact. According to the pact, the US will withdraw its entire troops from Afghanistan within 18 months of signing the draft pact, bringing an end to the longest war as far as the US is concerned.

The Taliban and US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad held six days of talks, keeping out the Afghanistan government. The talks were aimed at ending the war, that was triggered by the 9/11 attacks. The US and Taliban has however not issued any joint statement.

Khalilzad tweeted that the talks had progressed significantly and would resume soon. He also said that he plans to travel to Afghanistan to meet government officials.

Khalilzad praised the efforts to make the talks, saying that they were more productive than before.

As part of the pact, the US had demanded that Afghanistan will not be allowed to be used by al-Qaeda and Islamic State to attack the US and its allies, and Taliban group is said to have assured the American officials.

For a long time, Taliban has been repeatedly rejecting the Afghan government invites for talks, preferring to hold talks directly with the US that Taliban regards as its main enemy.

The peace deal could have broader implications for Afghanistan’s relations with its neighbours Pakistan, India and China.

IndSamachar statement:

At IndSamachar, we think that although this development looks good for US (withdrawal of troops) it is a disadvantage for the region as the local democratically elected govt has not been a party to this discussion between US government and terror group Taliban. It actually shows that US diplomacy losing to Pakistani manipulative diplomacy.