Donald Trump’s rush to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan could make any power-sharing arrangement more of a power grab
his eighth round of negotiations with the Taliban on August 12th, Zalmay Khalilzad, America’s envoy for Afghan peace talks, did not quite say that a deal allowing the extraction of American troops was done. But he came close. After “productive” discussions in the Qatari capital of Doha, the two sides were down to “technical details”, he said. It has taken a year of formal meetings to arrive at this point . But it is too soon to celebrate. Those details will be devilish.
Mr Khalilzad insists that all these elements must be part of the package. But it is far from clear what America’s red lines are. Many Afghans, particularly those in power today, fear that America is likely to make big concessions in its rush for the door. It may, for example, settle for a lull in violence rather than a formal ceasefire.has reported that America will initially reduce its force in Afghanistan by between 5,000 and 6,000 troops.
On July 7th and 8th such a group—including government officials and opposition leaders, as well as members of civil society and journalists—met 17 Taliban members at an intra-Afghan conference in Doha organised by Germany and Qatar. The previous meeting to have included Afghan officials was seven years ago. Encouragingly, the delegation in July included 11 women, among them the deputy head of Afghanistan’s national security council.
America’s itchiness to withdraw would put Afghan government negotiators at a disadvantage in any talks with the Taliban. In 2017 President Donald Trump said that announcing a date for pulling out troops would be “counterproductive”. Now he has reportedly told advisers that he wants them all out by America’s own presidential elections in November 2020.
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