The Afghan government has named a team for the purpose of negotiating directly
with the Taliban. The Taliban has said they won’t talk until the deal
on a US pullout is reached, but there are reasons to expect that might
be sooner, rather than later.
US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad is heading to Doha for the eight round of talks with the Taliban,
and says he believes this could be the final one before a deal, and
could conclude with agreement on the deal they’ve been working on.
The main aspects of the deal are setting a pullout date, and the Taliban
pledging to keep ISIS and al-Qaeda forces out of Afghanistan. Beyond
that, a ceasefire would be reached, and power-sharing talks with
Afghanistan would be held.
It’s not clear how soon the US troops might be withdrawn from the
country, but the Taliban seems to expect it to be pretty soon, while US
officials say they intend it to be “conditional,” and are mum on how
long it would take.
Lets get it done. Time has run out!