{"id":676425,"date":"2020-03-06T18:37:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T15:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/tr\/content\/?p=676425"},"modified":"2020-03-06T18:37:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T15:37:14","slug":"u-s-taliban-peace-deal-under-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2020\/03\/06\/u-s-taliban-peace-deal-under-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S.-Taliban Peace Deal Under Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Airstrikes against Taliban forces threaten to undermine a pact that may be already coming apart.<\/h2>\n
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By<\/span> Stefanie Glinski<\/address>\n

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Local militia members in Nangarhar’s Achin district in Afghanistan on Oct. 2, 2019. The district has been through Taliban and Islamic State rule and is now occupied by the government. Stefanie Glinski for Foreign Policy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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KABUL\u2014The fragile peace deal between the United States and the Taliban appeared to hang in the balance Wednesday as the U.S. Defense Department announced its first airstrike against Taliban forces in 11 days and bitter disagreements between the radical Islamist movement and the Afghan government, as well as internal divisions in Kabul, threatened to nullify the pact.<\/p>\n

People throughout the nation were holding their breath, caught in a limbo between fear and hope, as new violence erupted in a country long torn by civil war. Both U.S. and Afghan officials suggested that the Taliban were violating the pact despite an unprecedented telephone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Taliban political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Tuesday, after which Trump said the two had agreed there would be \u201cno violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a series of tweets, Col. Sonny Leggett, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the Taliban had conducted 43 attacks against Afghan national forces on Tuesday alone. In response, he said. \u201cThe US conducted an airstrike on March 4 against Taliban fighters in Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand, who were actively attacking an #ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] checkpoint. This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack. This was our 1st strike against the Taliban in 11 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, his own future in dispute not only because of the Taliban, who want an interim government established,<\/b> but because of a challenge from his election rival, Abdullah Abdullah, has cast doubt on the deal. The pact, which was signed by Baradar and U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad on Feb. 29, stated that the United States would \u201cwork with all relevant sides on a plan to expeditiously release\u201d Taliban prisoners, with the release date determined ahead of March 10, the planned beginning of direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. But Ghani said there was \u201cno commitment\u201d to freeing the prisoners.<\/p>\n

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a tweet on Monday that the deal will not go ahead unless the prisoners were released. An estimated 10,000 captured Taliban members are being held in Afghanistan, and around 5,000 Taliban prisoners were to be released in exchange for 1,000 political prisoners from the government\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Trump said that 5,000 U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by May and he was ready to meet Taliban leaders in the near future.<\/p>\n

But as a result of the impasse, some observers believe the scheduled date for \u201cintra-Afghan dialogue,\u201d as the agreement terms it, will be pushed back. \u201cThe prisoner exchange issue could delay intra-Afghan talks,\u201d Shaharzad Akbar, the chairperson of Afghanistan\u2019s Independent Human Rights Commission, told Foreign Policy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is surprising that there wasn\u2019t a full understanding on this issue between the U.S. and Afghan governments prior to finalizing the U.S.-Taliban deal. This illustrates the difficulty and messiness of this process and the remaining ambiguity regarding the real and expected role of different actors at each stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taliban\u2014who don\u2019t recognize the Afghan government\u2019s legitimacy\u2014have since declared they will again take up weapons against Kabul (while refraining from attacking U.S. forces and targets) after a weeklong reduction of violence that had been expected to continue, with Ghani declaring that the objective was to \u201cturn it into a cease-fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, while visiting Afghanistan\u2019s eastern Nangarhar province, Ghani once again addressed the Taliban, saying that killing other Afghans is a crime. \u201cYou have made peace with the foreigners, so what does your jihad mean now?\u201d he asked. But Taliban officials say their \u201cjihad\u201d will continue.<\/b><\/p>\n

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Read More<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why Afghanistan Is America\u2019s Greatest Strategic Disaster<\/h3>\n
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Pompeo’s plan to make peace with the resurgent Taliban is a sad reminder of all that went wrong in Afghanistan\u2014and how it could have been otherwise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Argument |<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Hirsh<\/address>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces said they were ready to \u201crespond forcefully\u201d to possible Taliban attacks. Scores of people have been killed since the signing of the deal, with the Afghan National Army reporting at least 16 soldiers killed in the northern province of Kunduz.<\/p>\n

Austin Scott Miller, the senior U.S. general in Afghanistan, said in a statement Monday that the reduction in violence ahead of the deal signing was intended as a confidence-builder. \u201cWe\u2019re very serious about our obligations and we expect the Taliban will be serious about their obligations. The United States has been very clear \u2026 the violence must remain low,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Afghans throughout the country are voicing their usual tense mixture of hope and fear. \u201cThe U.S. troops leaving worries me,\u201d said Zarifa Ghafari, the mayor of Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak, a province with large parts occupied by the Taliban. She said she didn\u2019t feel optimistic about the group\u2019s possible integration into the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Taliban are still a group of terrorists. Giving them a chance to come back, on top of American soldiers leaving within 14 months is not good news. I hope the international community will protect the future as well as social, economical, and political progress in Afghanistan. As a woman, I am looking at a dark future with the Taliban in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghafari\u2019s concern is echoed by many Afghan women. While the atmosphere in Kabul had been relaxed and hopeful during the week of reduced violence, the situation has tensed up, with many people swaying between hope and worry, frustrated that violence has resumed across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe resumption of violence by the Taliban is concerning and not conducive to the atmosphere of upcoming talks, but it is also not surprising,\u201d said Andrew Watkins, an analyst at the International Crisis Group. \u201cAs an insurgent movement, the group draws most of its political leverage from the threat and use of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Afghanistan\u2019s war has been deadly. In the last year alone, over 10,000 civilian casualties were recorded by the United Nations, including at least 3,403 civilians killed. Since the start of the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, more than 3,500 U.S. and coalition troops have been killed.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s deal has been seen as a beginning to the end of America\u2019s longest war in history, and both the Taliban and the United States say they remain committed to it. Afghanistan\u2019s government, that hasn\u2019t yet been part of the negotiations has described the deal as \u201can important step in the peace process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the disputes over the prisoner exchange and the government\u2019s divisions could potentially delay the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, the International Crisis Group\u2019s Watkins said he was still confident that the deal will hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem as if it\u2019s already breaking down,\u201d he said. \u201cEven historically successful peace processes have been full of misunderstandings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stefanie Glinski<\/strong> is a journalist and photographer who reports on conflict and humanitarian crisis.\u00a0Twitter:\u00a0@stephglinski<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Airstrikes against Taliban forces threaten to undermine a pact that may be already coming apart. By Stefanie Glinski | March 4, 2020, 5:19 PM Local militia members in Nangarhar’s Achin district in Afghanistan on Oct. 2, 2019. The district has been through Taliban and Islamic State rule and is now occupied by the government. Stefanie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4092,"featured_media":773326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[5264],"class_list":["post-676425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-taliban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}