The Taliban and the United States are all set sign a landmark peace agreement in Qatar on Saturday (today) to put an end to the nearly 19 years of war in Afghanistan.
Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in Doha that the agreement will be inked in the afternoon in the presence of delegates, including ministers, from over 30 countries and international organizations.
In order to reiterate support to Afghanistan in the post-Taliban deal, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg are scheduled to visit Kabul on Saturday, a presidential spokesman said on Friday.
Dawa Khan Meenapal said the US and NATO leaders will sign a declaration for cooperation with the Afghan security forces.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is in Doha, will represent Pakistan. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will lead a delegation in the ceremony. Pompeo is likely to ink the agreement on the US behalf and head of the Taliban political office Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar could sign the agreement from the Taliban side.
A Taliban official said there are four main items in the peace agreement, including withdrawal of foreign Troops, Taliban assurances on anti-terrorism measures, declaration of permanent ceasefire after signing of the agreement and formal intra-Afghan dialogue with the government and political parties. “Taliban will ensure safe withdrawal of the foreign forces in their controlled areas, stopping foreign militants from actions against other countries; foreign militants will no more call themselves as ‘Mujahideen’ but will live as refugee if they are agreed to this condition otherwise they could be asked to leave,” said the Taliban leader, who was aware of the peace talks in Qatar. He said ceasefire with the Afghan forces will be discussed in the intra-Afghan talks that could start within two weeks of signing the agreement.
Another source said Taliban have agreed to the US proposal on withdrawal of the foreign troops in 14 to 18 months.
The US currently has nearly 13,000 security personnel and 4000 could be withdrawn in four months, according to reports.
The agreement draft is stated to be of around 200 pages that also contains issues like women rights, youth and an inclusive government. Afghan officials say the government has sent a six-member delegation to Qatar for preliminary discussions on agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and the release of Taliban prisoners. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, however, said Taliban will not talk to the delegation but will start formal intra-Afghan dialogue with an inclusive team including the government.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Meenapal told Afghan media that the government has constituted a 15-member team for negotiation with the Taliban, but the team will not have the powers to take decision. He said another group of senior leaders of political parties, including opponents, will be formed that will make decisions. About the release of 5,000 Taliban detainees, he said this will be decided by the Afghan government.
The Taliban and the US started formal negotiations in October 2018 to find out a political solution to the conflict and the process witnessed several ups and downs. Both sides finalized the agreement in August 2019 at the conclusion of ninth round and was scheduled to be signed in mid-September last year. However, President Donald Trump’s abruptly called off the talks on September 7 after a Taliban bomber killed an American soldier and 10 other people including a Romanian soldier in Kabul. The US resumed talks with the Taliban after three months as Pakistan facilitated their informal meetings in Islamabad in October. But Khalilzad paused the process again as the Taliban carried out an attack near the Bagram air field in December last year, killing at least two persons and injuring over 70 others. Both sides returned to the table after nearly a month and Khalilzad pressed for reduction in violence and the Taliban leadership agreed to a weeklong reduction in violence that will end on Saturday. There have been major attacks during the period, however, Meenpal claimed there had been several Taliban attacks that caused deaths of over a dozen security personnel. Sources said there could be a second phase of reduction in violence after the signing of the peace agreement.
