The high-level talks between the US and Taliban delegations in Qatar
looks to be getting off to a promising start today. The talks started
with a meet and greet, and then got right down to business on a peace
deal aimed at ending the 17-plus year war.
That deal, as previously reported, is centered on the US withdrawing all
troops from Afghanistan, and the Taliban ensuring that neither ISIS nor
al-Qaeda is able to use Afghan soil in the future. Early indications are that these new talks are trying to hammer out the specifics of that.
On the one hand, that means they are trying to come up with a specific
timeline for the withdrawal of some 14,000 US troops from Afghanistan,
as well as the logistics of withdrawing decades of geat from the country.
At the same time, the US wants some guarantees that the Taliban will
deliver on promises to keep terror groups out of Afghanistan. It’s not
clear so far what form those guarantees might take, but there seems to
be confidence that a deal is possible.
Al Qaeda and ISIS were aligned with the US and NATO. I don’t think the Taliban will have a problem if only because the Russians, Chinese, and perhaps the Indians will offer material and intel assistance.
No mention whether will CIA will leave the country.
Good news, although the sticking point is probably control over the opium trade, making sure it continues and the CIA continues to get a generous cut.