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The US Deal with the Taliban

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Posted: March 2nd, 2020

By The Cipher Brief

The United States signed a peace agreement with Taliban leaders on Saturday that is intended to end the US’ 18-year involvement in Afghanistan. The deal agreed to in Doha, included the involvement of U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban Co-Founder and leader of the Taliban Political Office Abdul Ghani Baradar. Dozens of others including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were present in Doha, Qatar for the signing.  Notably absent was any official presence by the current, and internationally recognized Afghan government led by President Ashraf Ghani. 

Under the terms of the deal, the US will begin withdrawing a significant number of its 13,000 US troops in the coming weeks with a final exit date coming in about 14 months.  In order for that to happen, the Taliban are also agreeing to meet certain criteria. 

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Categorized as:Middle East ReportingTagged with:

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