Conditions apply to US-Taliban deal, US tells Afghan president
There are conditions on all the terms of a deal being mooted with Taliban militants aimed at ending the longest American war in history, US officials have told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan presidential palace said on Saturday.
In a meeting conducted on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper told Ghani that none of the clauses in the agreement are unconditional and that the deal would be finalized possibly in the next weeks, the palace added.
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Pompeo and Esper said that the Taliban is ready to end the war and accept a pluralistic society, the palace statement read.
According to the statement, the two sides also discussed the mechanisms that guarantee the supervision and oversight of the Afghan government, as well as the peace process.
US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the US negotiating team, was also present at the meeting.
The Afghan government has been sidelined from the US-Taliban talks during the last 18 months, even as the two sides inch closer to a deal.
“Let the Taliban say whatever they say,” Pompeo was quoted as saying. “But the reality is that they must say goodbye to terrorism and al-Qaeda and stop fighting.”
While in Germany, Ghani also met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, the palace said in a separate statement.
“The Taliban need to show the will and ability to reduce violence and negotiate in good faith,” Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter following his visit with Afghan President on Friday evening.
According to the palace, Ghani wants to consult broadly about the developments and discuss opportunities and risks of the deal.
On Thursday, Esper told reporters in Brussels that the US and Taliban have negotiated a “proposal” of a seven-day reduction in violence. On the same day, President Donald Trump said an agreement was “very close.”
An agreement is said to include a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops and Taliban guarantees that no terrorist attacks are planned from Afghanistan. It is also intended to initiate peace talks among Afghans.
There are some 17,000 NATO-member or partner country personnel engaged in Afghanistan, training local troops and building up their capacities.
The US has more than 12,000 troops in the country, and has been eyeing a one-third cut.
US and Taliban negotiators have held at least 10 rounds of direct talks in the past year and a half.
In September, the two sides were close to signing a deal when Trump abruptly cancelled the talks, citing a Taliban killing of a US soldier.
The US has been calling for Taliban militants to show they can reduce violence before any agreement can be inked.
