Doha talks between US and Taliban negotiators are continuing forward on
Sunday, with the most recent reports suggesting that the two sides are
trying to organize a direct meeting between their top negotiators, Zalmay Khalilzad and Mullah Baradar.
Both sides were very clear that this round of talks might effectively be
the last, and end with the announcement of a deal Khalilzad emphasized
in his comments that the US wants a “peace deal,” not merely a
“withdrawal agreement.”
Yet it’s undeniable that those two are interchangeable. The Taliban are
insisting on foreign troops leave, the US wants the Taliban to keep ISIS
and al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and those deals are the general
framework of a peace deal that would also include a ceasefire and talks
on power-sharing with the Ghani government.
Taliban officials confirmed this is going to be what they’re shooting
for, saying they want to set a timeline for foreign troops to leave
Afghanistan during which they’d negotiate with the government.
US, Taliban Seek to Work Out Afghan Peace Deal in Doha
Khalilzad emphasizes that US wants peace deal, not withdrawal agreement
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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