The U.S., Taliban sign historic peace deal

1 Mar 2020

The U.S., Taliban sign historic peace deal

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On Saturday, the United States signed a historic deal with the Taliban which aims to bring peace to Afghanistan.

The treaty was signed by US special envoy (representative) Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Doha, Qatar.

US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was also present at the ceremony. The agreement comes during a political crisis in Afghanistan after President Ghani’s re-election.

What are the terms of the agreement?

This treaty will be followed by peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghanistan government.
The US and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies have agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the Taliban maintain the deal.
The Taliban will not allow al-Qaeda or others to operate in the areas they control.
The US will also lift sanctions against the Taliban and work with the UN to lift its separate sanctions against the group.

While Afghanis are hopeful about the peace treaty, many more issues still need to be worked out.

What is the history of the US-Taliban conflict?

The Taliban are an extreme Islamic political movement and military organisation in Afghanistan. They ruled over around 90% of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
In September 2001, the World Trade Center in New York, US, was attacked by al-Qaeda, an extremist organisation which was based in Afghanistan.
So, the US invaded Afghanistan and by December 2001, it helped the rebel Afghan Northern Alliance to overthrow the Taliban government.
However, the Taliban managed to revive. By 2018, it was active in more than two-thirds of the country and continued to fight.

More than 2,400 US troops have been killed during the conflict. About 12,000 are still stationed in the country.