America reveals some clauses of its draft agreement with the Taliban

The US envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said today that Washington will withdraw five thousand of five bases in the country under the agreement with the Taliban.

Khalilzad said in an interview with the channel "Tolo News": We have agreed that if things go according to the agreement, we will withdraw within 135 days of five bases where we are now. However, the US official linked the implementation of the withdrawal to the Taliban's compliance with its obligations in the agreement.

US President Donald Trump has said that his country will maintain a permanent military presence in Afghanistan even after withdrawing its troops from there under the imminent agreement with the Taliban, and there are currently about 14 thousand US troops in the country.

The US envoy is currently in the Afghan capital from Qatar after nine rounds of negotiations with the Taliban, and both sides said they were about to conclude an agreement that will contribute to ending the war in Afghanistan 18 years ago.

Afghan President
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan quoted a government source as saying that Khalilzad briefed the Afghan president today on the details of the ninth round of negotiations with the Taliban.

The source added that Ghani received the draft peace agreement between Washington and the movement, and he will respond to it after consultation with leaders of political parties and representatives of civil society and women.

The president wants Khalilzad to brief all the country's leaders on the upcoming peace deal between Washington and the Taliban, according to the Reuters news agency.

The pending agreement will focus on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in return for security guarantees from the Taliban not to use Afghan territory to launch attacks against Washington or its allies, and extensive peace consultations between the movement and the government to reach a comprehensive and lasting peace agreement.

The Afghan government has not been involved in the ongoing negotiations between the Taliban and Washington because of its refusal to recognize it as a puppet of the United States. But under the deal, the Taliban are expected to commit to starting power-sharing talks with the US-backed government and working for a permanent ceasefire.

Norway talks
The Afghan president has appointed a delegation of 15 members to negotiate with the Taliban in the framework of peace talks between Afghan forces, scheduled to be held in Norway in the next few weeks.

Some Taliban officials have said they would agree to talks with those officials only in their personal capacity, not as state representatives, and they still oppose the September 28 presidential election.