Afghan soldiers in Ghazni on May 18, 2020. - CHINA NEW / SIPA

Will the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan be possible by next year? The answer remains uncertain as the United States carried out the first air strikes against the Taliban since the establishment in late May of a rare cease-fire between the insurgents and the Afghan forces. The two air strikes were carried out Thursday and Friday in two different provinces, said Sonny Legget, spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan.

USFOR-A conducted 2 airstrikes on June 4 to disrupt coord. TB attacks on ANDSF checkpoints, IAW the US-TB agrmt. We reiterate: All sides must reduce violence to allow the peace process to take hold. These were the 1st US airstrikes against TB since the start of the Eid ceasefire

- USFOR-A Spokesman Col Sonny Leggett (@USFOR_A) June 5, 2020

An unsustainable ceasefire

"These are the first US air strikes against (the Taliban) since the start of the Eid ceasefire," al-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of Ramadan, said the spokesman. "We repeat: all parties must reduce violence in order to facilitate the peace process," added Sonny Legget. It must be said that despite the American warnings, the violence does not relapse. In a separate attack on their vehicle, ten Afghan police were killed on Friday in the southeast of the country.

The hope of a lull was however there two weeks ago. The three-day surprise ceasefire had been initiated as of May 24 by the Taliban, on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. But, the first sign of the return of violence, the agreement had not been extended, despite numerous requests from the Afghan government. The insurgents have since resumed their deadly attacks on Afghan security forces across the country. However, violence has generally decreased.

Given the current climate, no one knows how long the Americans will be involved in the Afghan issue. At the end of February in Doha in Qatar, an agreement between Washington and the Taliban, not ratified by the Afghan authorities, was signed. The text provides for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country by May 2021 in exchange in particular for security guarantees from the insurgents and their commitment to enter into negotiations with the Afghan government. The Taliban have since stopped attacking foreign forces, but continue operations against Afghan forces.

New negotiations

To maintain the schedule, the United States envoy for the peace process in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, began a new tour on Friday to meet the Taliban in Doha and the Afghan government in Kabul. Its "main objective" is "to reach agreement between the Afghan parties on the next practical steps necessary for a successful start to inter-Afghan negotiations," said the US State Department. The Taliban-United States agreement called for the opening of unprecedented direct peace negotiations between the insurgents and Kabul on March 10, but so far they have remained unheeded.

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