Published 14:14 IST, September 1st 2019
US, Taliban on 'threshold' of an agreement: US Special Representative
The US and the Taliban in Doha are in between talks of reaching an agreement to establish peace and end the war between the adversaries according to Khalilzad.
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The US and the Taliban are on the verge of reaching an agreement. This agreement centers around the peace talks that are touted to end the 18-year-old ongoing war. Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-American diplomat has tweeted that the US and the Taliban are about to resolve the conflict in the war-torn area. The Taliban has been in talks with Washington in order to ensure that they withdraw the US and the NATO forces from Afghanistan in exchange of counter-terrorism affirmation.
U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad while talking about the agreement, said that it will 'reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to negotiate', adding that he would travel to Kabul later to conduct another round of talks to ensure the inception of the agreement.
We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honorable & sustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies, or any other country.
— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) August 31, 2019
Conclusion of the ongoing conflict
The adversaries have been meeting in Doha to reach a conclusion that is going to benefit both the parties. The agreement centers around the statement of the US that it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. In exchange for Afghanistan's promise that it would not resort to terrorism, particularly the areas that are under the Taliban control.
US-Taliban relations
The US war in Afghanistan or the Afghanistan war started in 2001 with the US's invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The forces of the US drove out the Taliban in order to back-pedal al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan which had formed a safe base in the country to conduct its operations. Washington in an effort to end the war has now been conducting peace talks with Afghanistan since 2018. Although, it is a possibility that the establishment of the agreement might not lead to peace between both countries as Taliban carried out attacks throughout the talks of the negotiations. The Taliban and the Afghan forces recently clashed in Kunduz, which took the life of 10 people. Taliban has further threatened to attack the civilians in the upcoming presidential elections.
(With inputs from ANI)
11:52 IST, September 1st 2019