Prologue
The city of Kabul has been on high alert as it has braced itself for a reaction from the Taliban forces. The Taliban are furious over the US president’s order over US troops stay in Afghanistan beyond May 1 withdrawal deadline that was agreed by the Trump administration in 2020.
The city has been placed on high alert keeping in view a strong protest from the Taliban over the new announcement of the US president therefore security was ramped up all-around and military presence and security at checkpoints were made visible in the Afghan capital. According to many sources, the presence of the Afghan army was being made sure even in other main cities of Afghanistan as well because of the security conundrum.
An overview of the recent past
According to Trump’s administration deal in February 2020 with the Taliban, the US forces were to withdraw from the country by May 1, 2021, and in response to it, the Taliban would refrain from attacking foreign troops and their bases in Afghanistan.
With the change in administration in the US and present situation around the world along with prevailing matters in Afghanistan, the new US president Joe Biden made a surprise announcement that the US troops would stay in Kabul beyond May 1 and will withdraw by September 11.
In recent times, violence against Afghan forces has escalated and more than hundreds of Afghan security forces have been killed. A huge blast took place on the eve of the previously agreed withdrawal date in the Eastern Logar region where dozens of Afghan forces men were killed when they were breaking their fast in the Holy month of Ramadhan.
Still, it is not clear who was behind the attack. The Taliban leaders responded strongly to the Biden’s administration new announcement and issued strong rhetoric with threatening consequences. The Taliban also boycotted a crucial conference in Turkey last month that was meant to jumpstart-stalled Afghan peace talks in Doha. Since then, many contacts have been made to bring the Taliban back to the negotiating table and agree to the new withdrawal date of the US troops. Still, no concrete progress has been made in it.
Threatening consequences
The Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter, “This violation in principle has opened the way for (Taliban) to take every counter-action it deems appropriate against the occupying forces”. He also added that the fighters were waiting for the decision of the Taliban leadership.
Last week Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that talks were being held. “Discussions between the US and Taliban and […] within the Taliban’s leadership are underway whether to extend that or not,” he said. Washington also warned that if the foreign troops in Afghanistan were attacked while the withdrawal process they would respond and defend themselves “with all the tools at our disposal”.
According to many the Taliban threats must be taken seriously but at the same time, many think that the Taliban response could be averted through a new set of negotiations and talks. “We can’t rule out attacks,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Programme at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington. “That said, the Taliban is less likely to attack foreign forces now that it knows there is a specific date when they will be leaving.”
Negotiating process on-going
According to many sources, there were many meetings and negotiations held with the Taliban to try to get them to agree to a deadline extension. The US special envoy in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, had met with the Taliban head, Mullah Baradar, in Doha, a Taliban spokesman said on Friday.
Also, on the eve of the May 1 deadline, envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, and the United States met with Taliban officials and Afghan government negotiators in the Qatari capital. The Taliban said they discussed the peace process and have requested that Taliban leaders be removed from sanctions lists.
According to many sources a delegation of Taliban political leaders had been in Islamabad this week. An official source said negotiations had revolved around the proposed deadline extension in exchange for the United States not getting involved in Afghan military operations against the Taliban.
It also included getting the Taliban to commit to re-joining the Turkey conference if they were provided with an agenda on what would be discussed there along with a possible declaration of a ceasefire over the upcoming Eid holiday.
Epilogue
The withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan will augur well for both the US and the Taliban forces in the region. The possible solution to this conflict will come out from the table talks. No war in this 21st-century globalized world could lead to solutions and sustainable peace.
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