US-Taliban sign long-awaited ‘Peace deal’ in Doha paving way for ending 18-year-old Afghan war

Doha: The United States and Taliban signed the peace deal in Qatar’s capital Doha. According to the terms of the agreement, the United States has agreed to withdraw its military from Afghanistan. Also, the Taliban has agreed to stop the violence and participate in the all-party talks in the future. The talks will decide the fate of the peace deal. Therefore, observers believe that as of now, inferring the signed agreement would establish peace in Afghanistan would be incorrect.

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad and leader of Taliban delegation Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar signed the peace deal. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was present for the historic event as also were the representatives of India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Indonesia. As per the agreement, the United States will withdraw its military from Afghanistan. Even the Taliban has agreed for talks with all parties, including the Afghan government and promised to stop the violence. The deal was possible only because the United States, the Taliban as also the Afghan government agreed to compromise. However, observers have said that the implementation of the deal was the most challenging part.

Currently, there are 13,000 US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan. The United States has made preparations to bring the number down to 8,600. Nevertheless, the US military officials have claimed that no one can pressurise the US for a complete military withdrawal. On the other hand, the Taliban leaders have termed the deal a victory for them.

The Taliban have stated that the willingness of the US military to withdraw from Afghanistan itself spelt victory for them. At the same time, their supporters claim the Taliban has defeated the United States in the war.

Yet some observers have emphasised that in reality, it was not a defeat of the United States. The United States has not accepted the Taliban’s condition for complete military withdrawal. Furthermore, the observers have drawn attention to the crucial fact that the United States had refused to vacate its vast military base in Afghanistan. The Taliban has maintained the stand that the current government in Afghanistan was a mere puppet in the hands of the western countries and could not be awarded any recognition. Retreating on this stand, the Taliban has now agreed to hold talks with the Afghan government.

A few days ago, one of the US dailies had carried an article written by Sirajuddin Haqqani, a prominent Taliban leader. In the article, Haqqani admitted that everyone was tired of the Afghan war. Moreover, the US President had also said that his country had suffered significant losses in the war and repeatedly expressed his desire to take the initiative to put an end to the prolonged war. What’s more, neither the United States nor the Taliban is willing to acknowledge that they were defeated in the battle or that they had agreed to a complete withdrawal.

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