Afghan Withdrawal Plan Faces New Challenges by Craig Nelson – Wall Street Journal
Challenges to a possible accord between U.S. and Taliban negotiators to start withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan are emerging that could upend the Trump administration’s efforts to extricate the U.S. military from the 18-year conflict.
Talks between the two sides to resolve what a Taliban spokesman called “technical details” resumed late Monday afternoon in the Gulf state of Qatar. Expectations were running high that the two sides, now in their ninth round of talks, would soon reach a deal to start pulling American military personnel from the Central Asia nation.
But alongside suggestions that the two sides were rushing to meet a Sept. 1 deadline to reach agreement, there were signs that a rough road lay ahead to end the Afghan war, which has cost the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. military personnel and hundreds of thousands of Afghans…