The war in Afghanistan is the longest in US history. Now an agreement with the Taliban is imminent. President Trump announced that he would send his Secretary of State Pompeo to Doha for the signing ceremony.
Washington / Doha / Kabul (dpa) - More than 18 years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the US and the Taliban are about to sign an agreement, according to US President Donald Trump.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will attend the ceremony, Trump said in Washington. The signing was expected this Saturday in Doha in the Gulf Emirate of Qatar. Trump also said there would be a joint statement by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper with the Afghan government.
The agreement between the United States and the Taliban is intended to trigger the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban are supposed to provide guarantees that the country will not become a safe haven for terrorists and that they will start peace talks with the government in Kabul.
Washington had asked the Taliban for seven days of "violence reduction" in the war-torn country as a prerequisite for an agreement. The deadline expired at midnight (local time in Afghanistan) - shortly before Trump's message was sent by the White House. According to local information, the phase was not non-violent, but was considerably quieter than usual. The week was seen as a test of whether the Taliban could control their ranks.
Trump said the progress made over 18 years has made great strides - but at high cost for U.S. troops, American taxpayers, and the Afghan people. In the election campaign, he promised the American people "that I would start taking our troops home and trying to end this war. We are making significant progress in fulfilling this promise."
The Qatar Gulf Emirate prepared a signing ceremony in the capital Doha for Saturday. Representatives from around 20 countries have been invited, including several foreign ministers. The first guests had already arrived in the Qatari capital Doha, including Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Government officials, like the Taliban, had been increasingly confident in the past few weeks that the deal would be signed. This would bring the Taliban a significant step closer to its long-term goal: the end of what they call the "foreign occupation", ie the withdrawal of US and international - including German - troops.
The Taliban were ousted from power by a U.S.-led military coalition in 2001 after hosting the terrorist Osama bin Laden. The United States blamed the head of Al Qaeda for the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Exact details of the agreement are not yet known, but the Islamists hardly had to make painful concessions in the negotiations with the United States. The Taliban had become increasingly militarily militant in recent years and had built up a strong bargaining position.