Small Wars Journal

Peace Deal with Taliban Sets Timetable for U.S. Exit but No Long-Term Solutions for Afghans

Sun, 03/01/2020 - 6:42am

Peace Deal with Taliban Sets Timetable for U.S. Exit but No Long-Term Solutions for Afghans by Karen DeYoung - Washington Post

The agreement to end the brutal U.S.-Taliban conflict in Afghanistan, which began nearly two decades ago with the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and became America’s longest war, was signed on Saturday under the gaze of tough men in turbans, who clapped and shouted “Allahu akbar!”

President Trump hailed the accord, formalized with signatures and a handshake between U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad and his Taliban counterpart, Abdul Ghani Baradar, as historic. “There hasn’t been a moment like this,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “We’ve had very successful negotiations. . . . Everybody’s tired of war.”

Trump said he would be “meeting personally with Taliban leaders in the not too distant future.” Asked whether such a meeting would be overseas, or if he would invite them to Camp David, an idea he broached last year, he said, “We’re looking at that.”…

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