Last September, when an agreement was looming and the Taliban were invited to Camp David, Donald Trump abruptly blocked negotiations. This time, it is the right one: the American administration and representatives of the Taliban concluded this Saturday, in Doha, in Qatar, a historic agreement after 18 years of war in Afghanistan.
The American negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban political leader Abdul Ghani Baradar then shook hands, with applause and shouts "Allah Akbar (God is the greatest)". The text signed by the two delegations paves the way for a withdrawal of American troops. Another perspective is direct and unprecedented peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Kabul authorities.
Commitments to meet
Before the signing, the American diplomat Mike Pompeo, who led the American delegation, called on the Taliban to beware of "declaring victory" and to "keep the promise of rupture with Al-Qaeda". If the insurgents keep their promises and negotiate with the Afghan government, "we and the rest of the international community gathered here today are ready for reciprocal gestures," he said.
From Kabul, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the United States "will not hesitate to cancel the deal" if the insurgents do not honor their security commitments and on talks with the government from Kabul. "If the Taliban do not honor their commitments, they will lose their chance to sit down with other Afghans and deliberate on the future of their country," said the head of the Pentagon.