Skip to main content

US, Taliban set to sign deal in Doha today

WASHINGTON: The United States and Taliban are set to sign an agreement in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday that both hope would bring peace to Afghanistan and end America’s longest war.

Last week, the two sides concluded a “reduction in violence” deal, agreeing that if violence remained contained for a week, they would sign the peace agreement in Doha on Saturday.

And on Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated that the US felt the condition had been met and was ready to sign the deal. “We have seen just these last six days a significant reduction in violence in Afgha­nistan,” he told House of Represe­ntatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

But the same day, 22 House Republicans sent a letter to Mr Pompeo, expressing “serious concerns” about the Trump administration’s plans to sign the deal.

“We are seeking assurances that you will not place the security of the American people into the hands of the Taliban, and undermine our ally, the current government of Afghanistan,” they wrote.

The week-long reduction in violence agreement followed nearly two years of protracted negotiations between the US and Taliban in Doha. Now, both sides appear keen to conclude the deal as planned. For doing so, they also have ignored the clashes that killed 19 security personnel and four civilians in Afghanistan this week.

“Everybody is happy, even people that are normally against me, like 99.9 percent of the time, because we’ve been there for 19 years,” said US President Donald Trump while explaining why he wanted to end the Afghan war now.

“We’re really serving not as a military force as we are a police force. And we’re not a police force,” he said. “We could act as a military force to win” but “I don’t want to kill millions of people — innocent people,” he said.

But the 22 lawmakers who wrote a letter to Mr Pompeo, urged him “not to commit America to a dangerous deal with the Taliban that would abandon (his) track record of strengthening America and putting our security and interests first.”

At a news briefing earlier this week, Mr Pompeo addressed some of these concerns, assuring sceptics that the deal would ensure Afghanistan was no more used for planning attacks against the United States and its allies.

There’s another concern that seems to have persuaded Washington to sign an agreement now, serious differences within the ruling coalition in Afghanistan. America set up this coalition by creating the post of a chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, within the government who worked with the president almost as an equal.

But since the September 2019 president elections, both Presi­dent Ashraf Ghani and Mr Abdullah have indicated that they want a new arrangement. The Americans, however, do not want to start a new process that could endanger their deal with the Taliban.

Published in Dawn, February 29th, 2020



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2T6J0uO
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...
Post a Comment
Read more