After 18 years of war, the United States and the Afghan Taliban signed a historic agreement in Doha on Saturday, which paves the way for a total withdrawal of American troops and unprecedented inter-Afghan peace negotiations. The agreement negotiated for a year and a half in Qatar was signed by the main negotiators of the two enemy parties, Zalmay Khalilzad on the American side and the political leader of the Taliban Abdul Ghani Baradar, in the presence of the head of American diplomacy Mike Pompeo.
This text is not a peace agreement per se, because the Afghan authorities, themselves grappling with the divisions born of a disputed presidential election, have so far been sidelined from these direct talks without previous. But the Americans agree to immediately begin a gradual withdrawal of their troops, to reduce them from the current 13,000 to 8,600 within 135 days. Their departure is, however, linked to the Taliban's compliance with their security commitments and progress in the upcoming inter-Afghan negotiations.
A flagship promise from Donald Trump
In the immediate future, Donald Trump will brandish the pact to claim, in the campaign for his re-election in eight months, that he has kept one of his key promises: to end the longest war in the United States. Despite criticism from some observers who believe that it concedes too much for too little, the Trump administration ensures that the guarantees provided by the insurgents respond to the primary reason for the American intervention, launched in retaliation for the attacks of September 11, 2001 hatched by Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan then led by the Taliban.
Under the terms of the agreement, "the Taliban will not allow any of its members, or other individuals or groups, including Al-Qaeda, to use Afghan soil to threaten the security of the United States and its allies." "It is a decisive and historic first step in their public recognition that they are breaking ties with Al Qaeda," said an American official.
Inter-Afghan negotiations
The belligerents are now expected to quickly agree on a total ceasefire during the inter-Afghan negotiations, which are due to start by March 10, probably in Oslo.
Some 30 countries were represented in Doha, but not the Afghan government which, however, sent a small delegation upstream for a "first contact" with the Taliban.
The Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan by an international coalition led by the United States after the 2001 attacks. They then led a relentless guerrilla war. Between 32,000 and 60,000 Afghan civilians were killed in the conflict, according to the UN, and more than 1,900 US military personnel. Robert Malley, President of the International Crisis Group Conflict Prevention Organization, "No deal is perfect", but the one on Saturday "represents the best hope of moving towards the end of a war that has lasted two decades ".
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