BREAKING: US and Taliban have agreed to a 7-day reduction in violence in Afghanistan that could pave the way to a withdrawal of US troops, a senior US administration official says.
did not elaborate on what an “inclusive” government meant in practice and whether it would amount to a democracy. The Taliban has misled the media in the past and has consistently rejected taking part in elections and called on Afghans to boycott them.
But even an initial agreement between the U.S. and Taliban would be seen as a significant feat for both sides. America’s war in Afghanistan is its longest, having raged for 18 years and costing the lives of around 2,300 troops,A deal would give President Donald Trump a talking point in his bid for re-election, allowing him to argue he fulfilled a campaign promise to extricate America from"endless" wars abroad.
The U.S. has 12,000 to 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, but in December three current and former U.S. officials told NBC News thatAfghans are utterly exhausted by decades of violence and many do not know life without war. But hope for a potential peace agreement is coupled with deep fears that a U.S. troop departure could open the way to the Taliban regaining power and returning the country to the brutal repression that characterized their rule in the 1990s.
In an earlier round of negotiations, the Taliban rejected the idea of a full-blown cease-fire, and as a result U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has pursued a deal to"However, the details of any"reduction in violence" or U.S. troop withdrawal are important only if the Taliban make good on a promise to begin direct talks with the Afghan government and other Afghan political figures, Laurel Miller, a former senior U.S.
"That’s the real deal," said Miller, now with the International Crisis Group think tank."All the rest of this is only window dressing if you don’t get to that."Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
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