The US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar signed the peace deal in the presence of more than 30 countries’ representatives on Saturday, February the 29th.

The agreement paves the way for a full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan starting with a drawdown to 8,600 troops “within months” upon President Trump’s orders, according to General Scott Miller, the top US commander in Afghanistan.

Also, the deal specifies that the Taliban will pledge to enter into talks with the Afghan government and not to harbor terrorist groups intent on attacking the West.

In the meantime in Kabul, Defense Secretary Mark Esper attended a ceremony with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

“Since the first day that Americans came, neither we wanted them to stay for centuries, nor they wanted that,” acting Afghan defense minister Asadullah Khalid said ahead of the ceremony in Kabul, adding that the departure of a “few thousand” US troops would not affect the security in Afghanistan.

In the aftermath of the US-Taliban agreement The Afghan government, ought to put a negotiating team together and exchange prisoners on a planned trend.

It is said that the Taliban have provided the US negotiators a list of some 5,000 prisoners imprisoned by the Afghan government. In return, the Taliban will have release 1,000 captives of the Afghan security forces.

“This is a test for the Americans,” said former senior Taliban official Abdul Salam Zaeef. “When this step is taken properly, then we’ll go to negotiations.” Afghan government officials have said that such an exchange would only occur during inter-Afghan talks or after they are complete.

On the other hand, the controversial results of the Taliban have challenged the formation of an inclusive negotiating team to represent the Afghans.

US President Trump has also contributed his words to the deal, calling it “a powerful path forward to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our troops home.” He added Friday, “ultimately it will be up to the people of Afghanistan to work out their future. We, therefore, urge the Afghan people to seize this opportunity for peace and a new future for their country.”

It is noteworthy that the Afghan officials have constantly criticized being excluded from the talks with the Taliban, noting that thoughtless withdrawal of the US forces will only put extra pressure on Afghan forces jeopardizing years of effort.

US politicians have also expressed a lack of optimism in the deal as a group of Republican lawmakers released a letter Thursday warning that the Taliban has “a history of extracting concessions in exchange for false assurances.” The letter continued, “A full-scale US withdrawal” would “allow terrorist groups in Afghanistan to grow stronger and establish safe havens from which to plot attacks against us.”

A key question also is ‘whether the reduction in violence will hold in the coming weeks’ as Afghan government officials and the Taliban begin talks.

Source: The Washington Post