france24--2019-02-03--Central African Republic reaches peace deal with armed groups

FLORENT VERGNES/AFP | A man shows shell casings of bullets fired by the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA and Central African troops, in PK5 district, in Bangui, on April 9, 2018.  A peace deal has been reached between the Central African Republic government and 14 armed groups in their first-ever direct dialogue, potentially ending years of conflict in the country, the United Nations and African Union announced Saturday.  The impoverished, landlocked nation has been rocked by violence since 2013 when mainly Muslim Selaka rebels ousted then president Francois Bozizé, prompting reprisals from mostly Christian militias and interreligious, intercommunal fighting.  UN peacekeepers were deployed in 2014. Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in a conflict that has sent two people to the International Criminal Court (ICC).  The deal, the seventh since 2012, was announced on Twitter by the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadera just a day after African Union (AU) and UN-sponsored talks in Khartoum were suspended amid disagreements over amnesty.  "A peace agreement has been reached," said the tweet. "This agreement should be initialled tomorrow (Sunday) and its signing will take place in Bangui in a few days".  "I am determined to work with the president and his government to address the concerns of our brothers who took up arms," said Central African Republic's Cabinet Director Firmin Ngrebada, according to the UN.  On Sunday, the parties will sign a draft of the agreement, which focuses on power-sharing and transitional justice, Sudan's state media reported, citing Sudan's chief negotiator Atta al-Manan. The final deal is expected to be signed on Wednesday. Talks began January 24 in Khartoum.  "This is a great day for Central African Republic and all its people," said the AU commissioner for peace and security, Smail Chergui.  The fighting has carried the high risk of genocide, the UN has warned. The conflict began in 2013 when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital, Bangui. Largely Christian anti-Balaka militias fought back. Scores of mosques were burned. Priests and other religious leaders were killed. Many Muslims fled the country after mobs decapitated and dismembered some in the streets.  The conflict has also uprooted more than one million people, the UN said, and had until now shown little sign of abating.  The vicious fighting in a country known more for coups than interreligious violence was so alarming that Pope Francis made a bold visit in 2015, removing his shoes and bowing his head at the Central Mosque in the last remaining Muslim neighbourhood of the capital, Bangui.  "Together we say 'no' to hatred," the pope said.  The violence has never disappeared, intensifying and spreading last year after a period of relative peace as armed groups battled over lands rich in gold, diamonds and uranium.  After more than 40 people were killed in a rebel attack on a displaced persons camp in November, both the leader of the 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission and the country's prime minister both acknowledged shortcomings in the response. "I knew that we did not have all the necessary means to protect our people," the prime minister said.  In a grim report last year marking five years of the conflict, the UN children's agency said fighters often target civilians rather than each other, attacking health facilities and schools, mosques and churches and camps for displaced people.  At least half of the more than 640,000 people displaced are children, it said, and thousands are thought to have joined the armed groups, often under pressure.  Last month the chief of Central African Republic's soccer federation appeared at the ICC for the first time since he was arrested last year in France on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona is accused of leading the anti-Balaka for at least a year early in the fighting.  In November 2018 another Central African Republic militia leader and lawmaker, Alfred Yekatom, made his first ICC appearance, accused of crimes including murder, torture and using child soldiers. He allegedly commanded some 3,000 fighters in a predominantly Christian militia in and around the capital early in the fighting. He was arrested last year after firing gunshots in parliament.  So far no Seleka fighters have been publicly targeted by the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.  As the peace talks began last month, the Norwegian Refugee Council warned of "catastrophe" if no agreement was reached, saying repeated cycles of violence in one of the world's poorest nations had "pushed people’s resistance to breaking point."  A majority of Central African Republic's 2.9 million people urgently need humanitarian support, the group said.  On Thursday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend an arms embargo on Central African Republic for a year but raised the possibility that it could be lifted.


france24--2019-07-05--In South Sudan daring to hope for peace

In South Sudan, daring to hope for peace

After five years of brutal civil war in South Sudan, a peace deal signed last year by President Salva Kiir and his opponent Riek Machar is providing hope at last. Our reporters went to Bentiu, one of the cities worst affected by the war and home to 100,000 displaced people. Our team also witnessed negotiations between former enemies who are now praying side by side for a shared future.  Nine months after the ratification of a peace deal by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and SPLM-IO rebel leader Riek Machar, violence in the country is subsiding. Several people have admittedly been killed since then, but far fewer than what the country has seen in five years of civil war.  Since December 15, 2013, the armed conflict between supporters of Salva Kiir and those of Riek Machar has left hundreds of thousands dead and forced four million people to flee their homes.  Today, despite difficulties in negotiating the peace agreement, the signatories are for now keeping their promises. Rebels and members of the government meet regularly to negotiate the details of the deal. Rebel generals have even been welcomed at an army base they had attacked many times.  Nevertheless, the violence has not completely stopped. In November, more than 150 women who had gone to get food rations were attacked by soldiers, beaten and raped. The news made headlines around the world. Since then, the United Nations has been patrolling to ensure the women’s safety and to try to prevent further violence from breaking out.  In this report, our teams take you to Bentiu, one of the cities most affected by the war. Located near the country's oil reserves, capital of Unity State and nerve centre of the conflict, it has been the scene of countless clashes between the army and the rebels. It is here that the worst massacres of recent years took place. Our reporters went to meet victims of the fighting, who are gradually returning to the city.  They also visited the country's largest camp for internally displaced people, near Bentiu. Nearly 100,000 people live there, under the protection of UN peacekeepers.  Finally, our reporters were able to attend the peace negotiations between the former enemies, who today are praying side by side for a shared future.


france24--2019-08-05--US Taliban push for peace as violence rocks Afghanistan

US, Taliban push for peace as violence rocks Afghanistan

STR, AFP | Afghan security personnel investigate the site of a bombing in Kabul on August 4, 2019.  The US and the Taliban have made "excellent progress" in the latest round of talks in Doha to craft a peace deal, Washington's Afghanistan envoy said on Monday.  The foes have been meeting in Qatar since Saturday for an eighth round of talks to thrash out a historic accord that would slash the US military presence in Afghanistan.  In return, the United States is demanding that the Taliban prevent the country from being used as a safe haven for jihadist groups including al Qaeda.  "Building on excellent progress in Kabul last week, I've spent the last few days in Doha, focused on the remaining issues in completing a potential deal with the Taliban," tweeted US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.  The conclusion of a deal "would allow for a conditions-based troop withdrawal", he wrote adding that "we have made excellent progress."  Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Taliban official told the Associated Press that the talks had helped resolve differences over US troop withdrawal and keeping jihadist groups out of Afghanistan.  A deal between the two sides could pave the way for direct talks between the government of President Ashraf Ghani, although the insurgents view his administration as illegitimate.  Khalilzad said that he was flying to New Delhi "for pre-scheduled meetings to further build international consensus in support of the Afghan Peace Process".  "My team and Taliban representatives will continue to discuss technical details as well as steps and mechanisms required for a succesful implementation of the four-part agreement we've been working toward since my appointment," he tweeted.  "Agreement on these details is essential," the US envoy added.  The four pillars of any deal would be a US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a commitment by the militants not to shelter jihadists, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a ceasefire.  The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the Taliban, accusing it of harbouring al Qaeda jihadists who claimed the September 11 attacks against the US that killed almost 3,000 people.  But despite a rapid conclusion to the conventional phase of the war, the Taliban has waged a formidable insurgency, bogging down US troops for years.  Washington wants to strike a peace deal with the Taliban by the end of this month -- ahead of Afghanistan's presidential election that is slated for September 28.  US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House last week that "we've made a lot of progress. We're talking".  However, even if the US and the Taliban come to an agreement, massive questions remain over what would follow an accord.  The US has said any withdrawal of its troops would be "conditions-based", whereas the Taliban has so far insisted on a full pullout of foreign forces before making commitments of its own.  Washington sees an agreement with the Taliban as a precursor to the insurgents then striking a peace deal with Afghanistan's government.  The Afghan government has formed a negotiating team for talks with the insurgents that diplomats hope could be held later this month.  The United Nations has said that civilian casualty rates in Afghanistan jumped back to record levels last month, after a dip earlier in the year.  More than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the conflict in July, the highest monthly toll so far in 2019 and the deadliest single month since May 2017.


france24--2019-12-09--World leaders speak after Ukraine peace talks uniting Zelensky, Putin in Paris

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a summit on the conflict in Ukraine at the Élysée Palace on December 9, 2019.  For the first first time ever, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for peace talks at the Élysée Palace on Monday. The talks were hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron with German Chancellor Angela Merkel also in attendance.  Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday met Ukranian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time on Monday at a Paris summit aimed at agreeing measures to help end five years of conflict in the east of Ukraine.  No comprehensive peace deal is expected from the meeting, mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but diplomats hope the summit will help to build trust between the two men.  Four-way talks at the Élysée Palace were followed by the first-ever bilateral meeting between ex-KGB agent Putin – in power for two decades – and ex-comedian Zelensky, who won the presidency this year, Ukrainian and Russian presidential sources said.  The four leaders were due to meet again over dinner, before a joint news conference.  "The leaders have been discussing the draft statement and each clause is being discussed in a lively way," said Zelensky's deputy chief of staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.


newsweek--2019-01-28--Will Trump Withdraw From Afghanistan Next Taliban US Agree to Peace Framework Principles

Will Trump Withdraw From Afghanistan Next? Taliban, U.S. Agree to Peace Framework Principles

U.S. and Taliban representatives have agreed the framework of a peace deal to allow American forces to withdraw from Afghanistan, negotiators have confirmed.  The draft framework could form the basis for a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have been battling Taliban—and more recently the Islamic State militant group (ISIS)—fighters for 17 years. In exchange, the Taliban will agree to prevent international extremist groups from using Afghanistan to launch attacks and commit to a ceasefire and talks with the Afghan government.  According to The New York Times, the chief U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad said Monday, “We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement.”  “The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals,” he added. “We felt enough confidence that we said we need to get this fleshed out, and details need to be worked out.”  A senior American official told the Times negotiations were still ongoing, and the draft framework is only the first step towards an elusive peace deal. However, the milestone marks the most significant achievement in nine years of discussions.  The unnamed official said the Taliban representatives had requested a break in the negotiations—being held in Qatar—to speak with the group’s leadership about the U.S. demand for talks and a ceasefire between the militants and the government in Kabul.  Though reports last week suggested America would agree to full troop withdrawal, U.S. officials told the Times no concrete details had been agreed in this area. Senior U.S. representatives also explained that new high-level talks would begin in late February, with work on technical details of a future deal possibly commencing before.  One of the key U.S. demands is that the Taliban agree to keep Afghanistan from being used by terrorist organizations to launch attacks abroad, as Al-Qaeda did on 9/11. Khalilzad said the group had agreed to the demand and to provide guarantees and an enforcement mechanism to ensure the concern was addressed.  It is not yet clear what form of power the Taliban would be granted in post-war Afghanistan, nor the means by which they would work with the government in Kabul to prevent a return to violence.  Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was briefed by Khalilzad on the progress of the talks before delivering a national address. He warned that any peace deal must not be rushed, though he expressed his desire for an end to the fighting.  “We want peace quickly, we want it soon, but we want it with prudence,” Ghani explained said. “Prudence is important so we do not repeat past mistakes.” According to the Associated Press, the president added, “There are values that are not disputable, such as national unity, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”  The government was not represented at the negotiations, the BBC noted. Ghani has previously warned that any discussions of a future interim government or other power-sharing agreement must only be discussed in direct talks between Afghan and Taliban representatives.  Khalilzad told the Times he was attempting to convince the Taliban to negotiate the future relationship directly with Kabul, and denied an interim government had been discussed by U.S. representatives.  “There are a lot of reports that we have discussed an interim government: No, I have not gotten into any of that discussion,” he explained. “I have not entered into what that could look like with the Taliban—they would like to talk to me about it, but I have not.”


newyorker--2019-01-29--Donald Trumps Chance to Bring Peace to Afghanistan and End Americas Longest War

Donald Trump’s Chance to Bring Peace to Afghanistan and End America’s Longest War

Afghanistan, in the foreign imagination, has never been associated with certainty. For centuries, visitors and invaders alike have applied conflicting stereotypes to the country—that Afghans are simultaneously courageous and treacherous, honorable and corrupt, courteous and warlike. This week, Afghans themselves face an uncertainty of their own: Donald Trump’s intentions.  On Monday, Trump’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, announced that, after six days of negotiations, he had achieved a “framework” for a peace deal with the Taliban—something that has eluded American diplomats for more than a decade. The Taliban pledged not to allow any organization to carry out an international terrorist attack from the territory of Afghanistan, in exchange for a full withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. The news sparked surprise—and applause—from American diplomats who have tried and failed to negotiate with the Taliban in the past. “I think this is the beginning of a credible process for the first time in ten years,” Dan Feldman, who served as the Obama Administration’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told me.  The moment represents an opportunity for Trump to produce a breakthrough foreign-policy achievement that would both appeal to his base and achieve something that he relishes: outdoing Barack Obama and George W. Bush. It would also end a conflict that has become an abattoir for poorly paid and equipped Afghan soldiers and police. Last week, the Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, revealed that forty-five thousand of them have died since 2014, when Afghan forces took over the responsibility for securing the country from American and NATO forces. During the same period, Ghani said, seventy-two foreign soldiers have died. On average, five hundred Afghan security forces have died for every American. “It shows you who is doing the fighting,” Ghani said.  A variety of factors—some serendipitous, some the result of Trump’s repeated calls for an American withdrawal from the conflict—have come together to create this opportunity. “The next several months are critical,” Rick Olson, a retired American diplomat who negotiated with the Taliban during the Obama Administration, told me. The surest way for the President to capitalize on the opportunity, diplomats say, is for him to embrace what is, for him, an uncharacteristic approach: restraint. Trump deserves credit for his willingness to take a risk. He has, apparently, dismissed the concerns of the Bush and Obama Administrations that abandoning Afghanistan could prompt the country to again become a base for terrorist attacks on the United States. But, for peace talks to proceed successfully, he should resist tweeting a demand for an immediate agreement or publicly threatening the unilateral withdrawal of American troops. Dan Feldman argues that this is a moment for Trump to act as a conventional leader. “A traditional, strategic, disciplined President could help quite a bit, by empowering his Special Representative in negotiations, by assuring the Afghan government that we won’t precipitously withdraw and leave a security vacuum . . . and by engaging allies and partners in the region on how to adequately resource and guarantee any settlement,” he said.  Feldman and Olson both said that a genuine chance for peace exists. Olson said that a central dynamic that has changed is the posture of the U.S. military. American generals are no longer arguing that they need more time to create military pressure on the Taliban. “The D.O.D. wants out,” Olson told me. “This is something they were never really willing to do under Obama.” He added that the Defense Department has shifted its focus to the strategic threats posed by China, Russia, and others. “The world has moved on,” he said. “D.O.D. is now thinking about great-power competition.”  For now, leaders across the region are also embracing the talks. After years of thwarting American efforts, Pakistan’s military, at the request of the United States, recently released Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a founder of the Taliban, and allowed him to lead the peace talks with American diplomats in Qatar. Iran, Russia, and China, meanwhile, see a chance to achieve a long-running goal: getting American forces out of their back yard. And the Taliban, who are militarily strong but unpopular in Afghanistan’s cities, may sense an opportunity as well.  Former diplomats warn that confusing and contradictory messaging from Trump will derail the talks. Last month, the President tweeted, without having informed America’s allies, that he was withdrawing all U.S. forces from Syria. Days later, news leaked that the White House had ordered the Pentagon to withdraw half of the fourteen thousand troops currently serving in Afghanistan. But the Syria announcement—which provoked the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis—was later walked back. And this week Pentagon officials said that they have received no orders to withdraw the seven thousand troops from Afghanistan.  Trump, in publicly telegraphing his desire to pull out all American troops, Feldman told me, weakens the hands of American negotiators. The Taliban may, in fact, conclude that they could simply wait for U.S. forces to withdraw and then take control of the country. “The Taliban recognize that the U.S. commitment is waning,” Feldman said. “By announcing that precipitously, you take off the table our best leverage.” Young people, women, and city-dwellers in Afghanistan fear that Trump will hastily abandon them and the country’s vast, post-2001 improvements in education, health care, and basic human rights.  At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, senior American intelligence officials expressed concern about Afghanistan and hope for the talks. Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence, predicted that, if the talks fail, the county’s bloody stalemate will simply drag on. “The current effort to achieve an agreement with the Taliban could play a key role in shaping the direction of the country,” he said. Gina Haspel, the director of the C.I.A., added that, even if a peace deal is reached, the United States will still need to closely monitor whether terrorist organizations begin to regroup. “All of us sitting at this table would agree that it’s very important that we maintain pressure,” she said. “A very robust monitoring regime would be needed.”  Feldman emphasized that an assurance from Trump that the U.S. will not “cut and run,” as well as a display of consistency and patience, would aid the talks. “This President has done the opposite of all those things,” he told me. If Trump is unwilling to adopt a new approach it’s best that he stay silent and leave the diplomacy to Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. “Then I hope he says nothing at all,” Feldman said, “and let Zal be Zal, and continue his efforts.”


npr--2019-02-09--US Envoy For Peace In Afghanistan Sees Long Road Ahead For Final Deal

U.S. Envoy For Peace In Afghanistan Sees 'Long Road' Ahead For Final Deal  The chief U.S. negotiator for peace in Afghanistan said Friday that after several months of talks, he has reached agreement with the Taliban on some key issues, but stressed that a substantive peace deal is far from finished and hinges on dialogue between the militant group and that country's government.  Speaking at the United State Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank, Zalmay Khalilzad cautioned that "a long agenda of must be addressed," but reiterated that, in principal, a "framework" agreement had been reached.  "What we've achieved so far is significant. But these are small, two or three small steps in a long journey," Khalilzad said in a hoarse voice, the result of 42 hours of talks with the Taliban.  Last month, Khalilzad revealed the Taliban has consented to guarantee that it will not allow terrorist groups to use Afghanistan as a platform to stage attacks against the U.S. or its allies, as al-Qaida did in 2001. In return, the U.S. has agreed to the possibility of troop withdrawal as part of a package deal.  There are about 15,000 American troops in Afghanistan.  Details of what mechanisms will be implemented to ensure that the Taliban complies with its side of the bargain still need to be fleshed out, Khalilzad said. He also clarified that the Taliban's negotiators agreed to the condition, but not its leadership.  "We will not just rely on people's words," he said, noting that Taliban leaders have said "they do not want to go back to the way things were."  Among several points of contention, however, is the Taliban's unwillingness to negotiate directly with the government of Afghanistan, which they argue is propped up by the U.S. government.  But Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Kabul, suggested that the war-weary nation is prime for peace. "All sides say they have learned lessons from the past," he said.  Additionally, he said Taliban officials are willing to take part in a "multiparty arrangement." It is unclear which stakeholders that may include.  He is encouraging intra-Afghan talks as soon as possible to shape the future of the country.  "We are looking to be helpful and offer what we can, but it's for the Afghans to decide. It's for the Afghans to have the conversations. It's for the Afghans to negotiate with each other. It's for the Afghans to accept each other," Khalilzad said.  "We cannot be a substitute for decisions that they must take," he added.  Another obstacle on the "very long road" to peace, is the Taliban's refusal to enact a cease-fire. Their position is that continued fighting presents the only path to gain concessions from the government, whereas a permanent cease-fire eliminates any incentive for the government to concede to their demands.  Still, Khalilzad remained optimistic about hammering out a mutually beneficial deal going so far as to suggest that a final peace agreement could be secured by July – before the nation's presidential election.  Vikram Singh, a senior adviser at the Institute of Peace, said the Afghan government appears to have shifted its tone over the last week, following peace talks in Moscow.  "I think the government realizes it risks making itself irrelevant if they're not much more proactive," Singh told NPR.  On the heels of negotiations with the U.S. in Doha, Qatar, from Jan. 21 through Jan. 26, Taliban leaders met with a Russian delegation for two days in Moscow earlier this week. The Afghan government was excluded from both.  "That was a bad move and they're starting to see that things can move without them," Singh said. "Rather than seeming like they're in control, they've been pretty negative but this week they took a soft tone on the [Taliban] meeting in Moscow."  Singh added that it's significant that in his speech on Friday Khalilzad rejected the notion that the U.S. is handing control of the country over to the Taliban, who ruled from 1996 to 2001.  However, the envoy emphasized that the Taliban will be among several stakeholders who will be participate in the power-sharing of a new government.  With regard to how the Islamist group's influence will affect women in Afghanistan, Khalilzad said the Taliban "have a different view on this issue now."  "They say they made in a mistake in how they dealt with women the last time," he said.  NPR's Scott Simon, who spent time in Afghanistan shortly after U.S. forces toppled the Taliban, reported, "Under the Taliban, women couldn't leave their homes without a male relative. Women couldn't go to school or work. They couldn't speak in public. They couldn't be treated by a doctor. They could be beaten for reading a book."  The Afghanistan of today "is a different world than 18, 19 years ago. It's a different country and it will take time for Taliban, perhaps to appreciate that but the message that they have given me is that they understand that they cannot go back," Khalilzad said.  Now, girls have greater access to education and women can work, they hold prominent positions in the media and government, and they have become an important part of the workforce.  The Taliban has issued statements about respecting human rights but women throughout the country are concerned that there will not be adequate checks to protect their relatively recently restored freedoms, NPR's Tom Bowman reported.  During the State of the Union address last week, President Trump touched on the ongoing war, which has been mired in a stalemate and is about to enter into its 18th year.  "Great nations do not fight endless wars," Trump said, just a month after announcing, to the surprise of the Afghan government, that he is ordering the withdrawal of 7,000 troops from the country.  On Friday, Khalilzad said the order to withdraw troops will depend on conditions on the ground and progress in the talks.  That stands in contrast to information gathered by Bowman who said, "People I talk with believe President Trump could order out maybe thousands of U.S. troops who are training Afghans and shift that to coalition partners."  The remaining U.S. troops – between 7,000 to 8,000 — would shift their focus to counterterrorism efforts, according to Bowman.


pravadareport--2019-07-26--America and Pakistan in Search of Peace and Conflict Resolution

President Trump and young looking Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met this week at the White House. Trump is master to transform rhetoric into reality as he did to North Korean leader. Both were trying to overcome the historic indifference and prejudice to bridge the ever widening gaps between the reality and perceptions of relationship. If nation's relationships are based on the simplicity of truth, wisdom, national interest and integrity, one could foresee political compromises as a virtue to foster friendship.  Trump's body language signaled some positive overtures as America looks for foes and friends to end its occupation of Afghanistan. Pakistan is central to this strategy to facilitate a peaceful and face-saving outcome for America militarism in Afghanistan. Truth is unchanging as it was in 2001 that George W. Bush - an emotionally disturbed and intellectually imbalanced president embarked on military intervention to invade Afghanistan to strengthen his standing before the American masses after the 9/11 events. Truth is the same today as it was almost two decade earlier that America and its NATO allies displaced and killed millions for no other reason except a preposterous and distorted version of warmongering against the poor and helpless people of Afghanistan who had nothing to do with the 9/11 tragedies.  When false assumptions go unchallenged, it breeds more reactionary forces to entrench in violence and destruction.  Bertrand Russell and Alfred Einstein Manifest (1955) called "a war with H bomb might possibly put an end to the human race."  In 2017, America tested the Mother of Bombs in Afghanistan as if it was an American state. This is how America and NATO destroyed the ancient and peaceful culture of Afghanistan. All wars are dreadful and end up in calamities with ripple effects for centuries to come. It is an evidence of tragic human abnormality that American, Afghan and Pakistani could not unfold humanitarian approaches to resolve the enlarged conflict in Afghanistan. Now, Trump and Imran Khan have come to understand its reality and wisdom of reciprocal forbearance that could usher a just a viable settlement in Afghanistan. But no one should underestimate the prevalent optimistic skepticism linking Pakistan and Afghanistan to a new American policy and practice for change in southwest Asia.  If America had the political, moral and intellectual capacity to honor its commitments, it could resolve the Afghan problems via a peaceful agreement with the people of Afghanistan and ensure a legitimate elected system of governance for Afghanistan. It is not the question whether Talaban or President Ashraf Ghani's party should govern Afghanistan, but the people of Afghanistan must have a participatory and final say in making the peace deal.  Rights of the people and political fairness must be the guiding principles to conclude a peace pact between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Military interventions never deliver peace and social harmony but destroy all substance that should support the societal progress and future-making.  Imran Khan should be careful to assess Pakistan's own weaknesses and strength and learn from the past as to what mistakes were made in military collaboration with the US scheme of things in the region. The USAID gimmick or the loans from the IMF are not the viable strategies for national progress and development. Pakistan must strengthen its domestic socio-economic and political productivity, advancements and integration. Its progress is a key to international cohesion and services to the neglected masses. Khan does not appear to have expertise in political change, economic productivity and nation-building. Political corruption is a cancer in the society. He should encourage and engage new generation of educated and intelligent and honest people to participate for building new public institutions, new systems of participatory governance and political accountability in all domains of affairs. Imran Khan will be wise to enlarge his circle of governance by enlisting educated and proactive visionary men of ideas and strategic experts to deliver services to the people and ensure a progressive Pakistan.  Trump to Mediate Kashmir between India and Pakistan - Will He?  As a friendly overture to softening relationship with Pakistan, Trump offered to mediate the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.  Immediately, Indian PM' spokesperson denied Trump's assertion of PM Modi ever asking him to discuss Kashmir with Pakistan.  In politics, argument and rebuttals could be pondered with varied logical scales. There is a contrast between what India claims to be and what Pakistan stands for and what the people of Kashmir valley aspire for. If we imply canons of rationality, it could clarify the core of fault lines between tense relationships of India and Pakistan.  If India and Pakistan are sincere to find a cure to the overwhelming cruelty, military tyranny and violations of the basic rights of the people of Kashmir, the global community will view them as leaders of peaceful future-making  For a change, Trump has sensed the rationality of restoring normal ties between the two nuclear rivals. It could help him to gain some numbers in political popularity as he did on North Korea - an unthinkable probability making it thinkable reality for normalization of mutual relationship. Both India and Pakistan and given their competing claims cannot deny the fact that Kashmir is the focal issue to a normal future for the masses in both countries. War is madness if there are people of reason to think about the societal future and wellbeing of the people. Kashmir was never part of India even under the British Raj. In 1947 and 1949 at the UN Security Council Resolutions, the people of Kashmir were promised a referendum (plebiscite) to decide about their future whether to join India or Pakistan.  It is not the domestic territory of India or Pakistan to undo the truth about Kashmir. There is no sense to shed human blood on a precarious experiment whether India administers Kashmir or Pakistanis do. The conflict must be resolved by addressing the humanitarian problems and sufferings of the people of Kashmir. If Trump along with Russia and China could persuade both India and Pakistan to resolve the problem, it could open-up new threshold of peace and harmony in Southwest Asia.  In a changing world of global thinking and friendly relationships with others, American foreign policy experts should think critically how best they could communicate to a friend in Southwest Asia and enlist urgently needed moral and practical support to pave the ways for a peaceful settlement of the Afghanistan crisis. America is a military power but its legend of invincibility has been torn apart by small groups of fighters in Afghanistan. Much of this land of ancient tribal herdsmen is in ruins, its economy, political and civic infrastructures and productivity devastated by the insanity of war and civilian lives float between obsessed insecurity, daily bombings and extended graveyards. America cannot undo the history of its own ruthless engagement and strategic failure. This consequence is of its own failed strategy or no strategy at all, and not of the role of Pakistan or others. If American rational impulses are intact, its policy should focus on a multilateral approach including Pakistan, Iran, India, China and Russia to pool intellectual resources and work out negotiated settlements in Afghanistan and Kashmir. America needs to be rational and see the mirror of its prolonged involvement in a war that has consumed more than 4,000 lives of US soldiers and almost 15,000 wounded veterans. This is no excuse to reinforce aggression against the people of Afghanistan. America needs a safe exit from the prolonged self-engineered crisis.  Russia, China, India  and Pakistan Could Help America to Negotiate Peace in Asia  While individualism is a political trait, authoritarian absolutism is a political sickness and contrary to the principles of liberty and justice. America enjoins a moral and intellectual history of the making of the nation. "These are the times that try men's soul", wrote Thomas Paine in the Common Sense (1776), the political vision and reference for the independence of America from Britain as a nation. If global common sense is the hub of rational thoughts, America under Trump has open lines of communication with President Putin and Chinese President Xi Ping. It is rational to assume that Pakistan under PM Imran Khan could facilitate an international gathering inviting Russia, China, India and America to open a dialogue for political change and conflict resolution. This will be a magnanimous forbearance and proactive vision to dispel the notion of war and intransigence and to reshape a turbulent past, be it in Afghanistan or Kashmir and strengthen a legitimate purpose of peace, friendship and sustainable relationships without tyranny of wars and violations of human rights and dignity. Ferocity of wars and violations of human rights cannot be the intelligent hallmarks of a progressive society striving to harmonize the humanity and make sustainable peace as a reality for the future generations.  Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution and international affairs with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution: Approaches to Understand the Current Issues and Future-Making. Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, October 2017.


rferl--2019-01-28--NYT US Taliban Agree In Principle To Peace Framework Envoy Says

NYT: U.S., Taliban Agree In Principle To Peace 'Framework,' Envoy Says

U.S. and Taliban officials have agreed in principle to the "framework" of a peace deal, The New York Times quotes U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad as saying after five days of talks between the militant group and the United States in Qatar.      Both sides have said "progress" had been made in the talks aimed at ending the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan.      “We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement,” The New York Times quoted Khalilzad as saying on January 28 in an interview in Kabul.  In the framework, the militants agree to prevent Afghan territory from being used by groups such as Al-Qaeda to stage terrorist attacks.      That could lead to a full pullout of U.S. combat troops, but only in return for the Taliban entering talks with the Afghan government and agreeing to a lasting cease-fire.      The Taliban “committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals,” Khalilzad was quoted as saying.      “We felt enough confidence that we said we need to get this fleshed out, and details need to be worked out,” he added, according to The New York Times.  The Western-backed government in Kabul has struggled to fend off a resurgent Taliban and other militant groups.      The Taliban has so far refused to hold direct negotiations with Afghan government officials, whom they dismiss as "puppets."      The militants have said they will only begin talks with the government once a firm date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops has been agreed.      In a televised address on January 28, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called on the Taliban to enter “serious” negotiations with the government in Kabul and "accept Afghans' demand for peace.”      "Either they join the great nation of Afghanistan with a united voice, or be the tool of foreign objectives," he told the militant group.      Ghani spoke after Khalilzad briefed him and other Afghan officials in Kabul on the six-day talks he held with Taliban representatives in the Qatari capital, Doha, last week.      The president's office quoted Khalilzad as saying he had held talks about the withdrawal of foreign troops and a possible cease-fire, but nothing was agreed upon.      "The U.S. insisted in their talks with the Taliban that the only solution for lasting peace in Afghanistan is intra-Afghan talks," Khalilzad said, according to a statement.      "My role is to facilitate" such talks between the insurgents and Kabul, Khalilzad was quoted as saying.      The U.S. envoy said on January 26 that the United States and the Taliban had made "significant progress," adding that the Doha talks were "more productive than they have been in the past."        He also emphasized that the sides “have a number of issues left to work out,” and that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”        Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that while there was "progress" at the meetings, reports of an agreement on a cease-fire were "not true."      Mujahid also said in a statement that talks about "unresolved matters" will continue.      Until the withdrawal of international troops was hammered out, "progress in other issues is impossible," he insisted.      Another round of peace talks between the Taliban and the United States was tentatively set for February 25, the Reuters news agency quoted a Qatari Foreign Ministry official as saying on January 28.


rferl--2019-01-29--NATO US Officials Encouraged By Afghan Peace Talks After Draft Framework Agreed

NATO, U.S. Officials Encouraged By Afghan Peace Talks After 'Draft Framework' Agreed

NATO’s chief and the acting head of the Pentagon said they were encouraged by the progress of peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, after the U.S. special envoy for the conflict-wracked country announced that American and Taliban negotiators had agreed on a draft "framework" for a peace deal seeking to put an end to the 17-year war there.  During a visit to Washington on January 28, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg vowed that the Taliban "will not win on the battlefield, so they have to sit down at the negotiating table."  "Therefore we are encouraged by what we see now, the progress... and talks with Taliban," he added.  Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan echoed that, saying "I'd say really the takeaway right now: it's encouraging."  Stoltenberg and Shanahan made the comments as Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, said that his five days of talks with Taliban negotiators in Qatar last week were "much better than previous meetings."  Khalilzad told Afghan reporters in Kabul that the sides "made progress on vital issues in our discussions and agreed to agreements in principle on a couple of very important issues.”  "There is a lot more work to be done before we can say we have succeeded in our efforts but I believe for the first time I can say that we have made significant progress," he also said.  The Taliban has also said that "progress" had been made in the talks.  In an interview with The New York Times published earlier in the day, Khalilzad offered more details on the state of the negotiations with the militant group, saying the sides had agreed in principle to the "framework" of a deal.  Under the framework, the militants would agree to prevent Afghan territory from being used by groups such as Al-Qaeda to stage terrorist attacks, Khalilzad said.  That could then lead to a full pullout of U.S. combat troops, but only in return for the Taliban’s entering talks with the Afghan government and agreeing to a lasting cease-fire.  "We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement," Khalilzad told the newspaper in Kabul.  Meanwhile, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called on the Taliban to enter "serious" negotiations with the Kabul government and "accept Afghans' demand for peace."  "Either they join the great nation of Afghanistan with a united voice, or be the tool of foreign objectives," he said in a televised address.  Backed by Western nations, Ghani’s government has struggled to fend off a resurgent Taliban and other militant groups.  The Taliban has so far refused to hold direct negotiations with Afghan government officials, whom they dismiss as U.S. "puppets." The militants have said they will only begin talks with the government once a firm date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops has been agreed.  U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump wants to withdraw about half of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Stoltenberg said it was too early to speculate about the number of NATO troops that would remain.  Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on January 26 that there was "progress" in the peace talks, but he denied earlier reports of an agreement on a cease-fire.  Until the withdrawal of international troops was hammered out, "progress on other issues is impossible," he said.  Another round of talks between the Taliban and the United States was tentatively set for February 25, the Reuters news agency reported.


rferl--2019-01-30--Trump Says Afghanistan Peace Talks Proceeding Well

Trump Says Afghanistan Peace Talks 'Proceeding Well'

President Donald Trump has expressed cautious satisfaction over the progress of peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, following six days of talks between the U.S. special envoy for the conflict-wracked country and Taliban negotiators last week.      "Negotiating are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting," Trump tweeted on January 30.     "Fighting continues but the people of Afghanistan want peace in this never ending war. We will soon see if talks will be successful?" he wrote in a separate tweet.  Trump's comments come after both the Taliban and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, said that "progress" had been made in talks in Qatar.      In an interview with The New York Times published on January 28, Khalilzad said that the sides had agreed in principle to the "framework" of a peace deal to end the Afghan war.  He said that the draft "framework" calls for the Taliban to prevent international terrorist groups from basing themselves in Afghanistan. That could lead to a full pullout of U.S. forces from the country, but only in return for the Taliban entering talks with the Afghan government and agreeing to a lasting cease-fire.      Speaking to reporters in Kabul later in the day, the U.S. envoy said, "There is a lot more work to be done before we can say we have succeeded in our efforts, but I believe for the first time I can say that we have made significant progress."  Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told a conference in Kabul on January 30 that the "key to peace was in Afghanistan," while the "keys to war are in Islamabad, Quetta, [and] Rawalpindi" -- meaning Pakistan.  Afghan and U.S. officials have long accused Pakistan of providing a safe haven for terrorists operating in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad fiercely denies.  In November, Ghani announced that his government had formed a 12-strong negotiating team to seek a peace agreement with the Taliban, as he laid out what he called a "road map" for the talks.  The Western-backed government in Kabul has struggled to fend off a resurgent Taliban and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO troops in 2014.      The Taliban has so far refused to hold direct negotiations with Afghan government officials, whom they dismiss as U.S. "puppets." The militants have said they will only begin talks with the government once a firm date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops has been agreed.  However, a spokesman said on January 30 that the Taliban was not seeking a "monopoly on power" in a future administration.  "After the end of the occupation, Afghans should forget their past and tolerate one another and start life like brothers. After the withdrawal, we are not seeking a monopoly on power," Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman based in Qatar, told the Associated Press in an audio message.


rferl--2019-02-08--US Envoy Long Way To Go Before Peace Deal With Afghan Taliban

U.S. Envoy: 'Long Way To Go' Before Peace Deal With Afghan Taliban

U.S. peace envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad says that although talks with the Taliban have produced the framework for a peace deal there is still a "long way to go" before a final agreement.      Speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington on February 8, Khalilzad said he was "hopeful" a peace deal could be finalized before Afghanistan’s presidential elections in July, but warned that there remained "a lot of work" to do.      "We are at the early stages of a protracted process," said Khalilzad, who has met with Taliban negotiators for a series of talks in the Middle East in recent months.      Khalilzad held six days of talks with Taliban negotiators in the Qatari capital, Doha, last month, culminating in the basic framework of a possible peace agreement.      The agreement calls for the Taliban to prevent international terrorist groups from basing themselves in Afghanistan and for the United States to withdraw its forces from the country.      The Taliban has yet to make concessions on two key U.S. demands -- implementing a cease-fire and agreeing to negotiate directly with Afghan government representatives as part of an Afghan-led, intra-Afghan peace process.  The Afghan government has been absent from the U.S.-Taliban talks, prompting anger and frustration in Kabul.      The Taliban considers the Kabul government a Western puppet and has so far refused to directly negotiate with it.      But Khalilzad said the next phase of the peace process will have to be Afghan-led, saying Washington role’s will "decrease" as Afghans from the warring sides hammer out a possible deal through an "inter-Afghan dialogue."      Khalilzad said there were indications that the Taliban could sit down with government representatives in a "multiparty format."      The former U.S. ambassador said there was "positive change" in Pakistan, which Washington and Kabul have long accused of sheltering the Taliban.      Khalilzad said Islamabad had helped facilitate recent talks between the militants and the United States, although he said Pakistan should "do more."      Russia hosted a second peace conference in Moscow from February 5-6, attracting representatives of neighboring countries, powerful Afghan power brokers, and Taliban officials.      U.S. officials have accused Russia of attempting to muddle the U.S.-backed peace process.      Khalilzad said the Russia-backed talks were "positive" as long as they helped facilitate intra-Afghan talks, not if they "polarize Afghans further."      "I'm not seeking to monopolize" the Afghan peace process, Khalilzad said, adding that regional countries should play a role in resolving the 17-year conflict.


rferl--2019-02-11--US Acting Defense Chief Backs Kabul Role In Peace Talks

U.S. Acting Defense Chief Backs Kabul Role In Peace Talks

U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan has arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to meet with military commanders and Afghan officials amid a heightened push by Washington for a peace deal with the Taliban.  Shanahan, who arrived early on February 11, told reporters traveling with him that he will stress in talks with Afghan leaders that they will be the ones to ultimately decide their future, including the final nature of any potential peace with the Taliban.  "It is important that the Afghan government is involved in discussions regarding Afghanistan," Shanahan said.  "The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like in the future. It's not about the U.S. It is about Afghanistan," he added.  Shanahan, who took over the job after Jim Mattis quit in December over policy differences with U.S. President Donald Trump, said he could not make any guarantees because U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was leading the talks.  "The U.S. military has strong security interests in the region. [The] presence will evolve out of those discussions," Shanahan said.  He said the aim of his trip was to get an understanding of the situation on the ground from commanders and then brief Trump on his findings.  Shanahan also said he had no instructions from the White House to reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from the current 14,000.  Reports have circulated that U.S. President Donald Trump is looking to cut about half of the force as part of efforts to reduce U.S. military involvement in the region.  Trump has already said he is pulling out all 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, where they have been aiding a Syrian Arab and Kurdish alliance fighting against the Islamic State and other insurgent groups.  Shanahan's trip comes as the Afghanistan envoy Khalilzad is setting off on a visit to several key countries as part of efforts to push a U.S. peace initiative for the war-torn country.  The State Department said Khalilzad would travel on February 10-28 to Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.  Khalilzad recently returned from talks with the Taliban in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.  It was not immediately clear if Shanahan and Khalilzad would be conducting joint discussions during their trips.  Shanahan said in late January that he saw "some very encouraging possibilities" in Khalilzad's negotiations with the Taliban.  "But we need to give them time and space," he said.  Shanahan, 56, has said his priorities would include the impending U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria and countering China's military might.  Shanahan is expected to attend a meeting of NATO defense chiefs in Brussels on February 13-14 and then the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 15-17.


rferl--2019-02-19--US Envoy Calls On Afghanistan To Unite As Peace Talks Intensify

U.S. Envoy Calls On Afghanistan To Unite As Peace Talks Intensify

U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has called on Afghans to put aside their differences and unite as attempts to end Afghanistan’s 17-year war gain momentum.      Khalilzad has held a series of direct talks with Taliban negotiators in the Middle East in recent months, although those discussions have not included the Western-backed Kabul government.      Key Afghan power brokers who oppose President Ashraf Ghani held talks with Taliban negotiators in Moscow on February 5-6.      Opposition politicians have criticized the negotiating team announced by Ghani that is headed by his chief of staff for not being inclusive.      Khalilzad called on the Afghan government to form a "strong, national" negotiating team.      "We need a team where government’s leadership is respected," Khalilzad told Afghanistan's Tolo News on February 18. "At the same time, the participation of other political elements is also a must."      Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador, was in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he held talks with Ghani and senior political figures.      He said peace would only be achieved in Afghanistan if there was "unity, consensus, and agreement between Afghans, inside and outside the government."      Kabul has been angered and frustrated that it has been left out of the talks.      Ghani said last week he will convene a consultative Loya Jirga, a traditional assembly of tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders, to reach a national consensus on peace talks with the Taliban.      Khalilzad is scheduled to meet Taliban negotiators for talks in Qatar on February 25.      During the previous round of talks in Doha, the Qatari capital, U.S. and Taliban negotiators reached the basic framework of a possible peace deal.      The agreement calls for the Taliban to prevent international terrorist groups from basing themselves in Afghanistan and for the United States to withdraw its forces from the country.      “There are difficulties, but we have agreed with the Taliban to meet again on February 25," he said. "We agreed in principle to talk in details and with more authenticity about two topics to find whether there is the possibility to make more progress on the issue of terrorism and the issue of forces."      The Taliban has yet to make concessions on two key U.S. demands -- implementing a cease-fire and agreeing to negotiate directly with Afghan government representatives as part of an Afghan-led, intra-Afghan peace process.      "I want a broad-based cease-fire to be announced as soon as possible," Khalilzad said. "Secondly, there is a need for discussions and consultations among Afghans, including the [Afghan] government, to start soon."      The Taliban has so far refused to hold talks with Kabul, calling it illegitimate.      The Taliban announced that it would hold talks with U.S. and Pakistani officials in Islamabad on February 18, but the talks were canceled after Kabul's protests.


rferl--2019-02-24--Taliban Political Chief Baradar To Attend Afghan Peace Talks In Qatar

A new round of peace talks between Taliban and U.S. negotiators is to begin in Doha this week and will include the militant group’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, according to Taliban and diplomatic sources in Qatar.      Reports said the talks were set to begin in the Qatari capital on February 25, and were expected to center around a cease-fire to end Afghanistan's 17-year conflict and the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.      The U.S. negotiating team will be led by the United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.      Afghan Taliban leaders had said that their new political chief, Baradar, would not attend the negotiations because he had had difficulties obtaining travel documents.      The Taliban also said there were differences among the Taliban leadership over the precise role that Baradar should have in the talks.      Baradar was released from a Pakistani jail in October.       His appointment was widely seen as marking a new push by the Taliban to achieve political and diplomatic legitimacy.      The Taliban, which now reportedly controls nearly half of Afghanistan, has held a series of direct talks with Khalilzad in recent months.      However, the group has so far refused to hold direct negotiations with the Afghan government, calling it a Western puppet.      During their previous round of talks in Doha, U.S. and Taliban negotiators reached the basic framework of a possible peace deal.      The agreement calls for the Taliban to prevent international terrorist groups from basing themselves in Afghanistan and for the United States to withdraw its forces from the country.      U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since an October 2001 invasion that brought down the Taliban government after it refused to hand over Al-Qaeda terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, blamed for launching the September 11 attacks in the United States.


rferl--2019-04-01--US Special Envoy Arrives In Kabul Ahead Of New Round Of Peace Talks

U.S. Special Envoy Arrives In Kabul Ahead Of New Round Of Peace Talks

The U.S. envoy seeking a peace deal with the Taliban to end nearly 18 years of war in Afghanistan has returned to Kabul ahead of a new round of talks.      Fereydoun Khuzon, deputy spokesman for the Afghan presidential administration, told RFE/RL on April 1 that he expects the visit of U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to pave the way for the start of direct talks between the government and the Taliban.      Khalilzad, the chief negotiator with the Taliban, has held several rounds of peace talks with the militant group in Qatar. But the Western-backed government in Kabul has complained it is being left out of the negotiations, with the Taliban refusing to negotiate with what they consider "a U.S. puppet."      Khalilzad appears to have hit the ground trying to smooth those complaints and facilitate a peace process that brings all Afghan parties together in inclusive intra-Afghan negotiations.      "We discussed the urgency of making progress on intra-Afghan dialogue," Khalilzad tweeted on April 1 after meeting with government representatives with responsibility for the Afghan peace process.  He later wrote that he had "productive" talks with Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Foreign Minister Salah Rabbani, adding: "We discussed how the international community can best support them in an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned" peace process.  The growing rift between Kabul and Washington over the talks with the Taliban erupted in public view on March 14, when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's national-security adviser harshly criticized Khalilzad, a veteran, Afghan-born U.S. diplomat.      During a visit to Washington, Hamdullah Mohib accused the U.S. envoy of "delegitimizing" the government by excluding it from the negotiations, acting like a "viceroy," and harboring personal ambitions in Afghanistan.  Khalilzad's trip also comes amid heightened tensions between Kabul and Islamabad over recent statements made by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan that suggested that Afghanistan should set up an interim government.      Khan told Pakistani journalists on March 25 that such a move would help the talks between U.S. and Taliban negotiators, since the militant group refuses to speak to the current government.      Afghanistan has recalled its Islamabad ambassador and summoned Pakistan's deputy ambassador to Kabul to discuss what a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman called the "irresponsible" remarks by Khan.       In a statement on March 27, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said that Khan's comments had been "reported out of context in the media, leading to unwarranted reaction from various quarters."


rferl--2019-04-05--US Peace Envoy In Pakistan For Talks On Afghan Peace Process

U.S. Peace Envoy In Pakistan For Talks On Afghan Peace Process

The U.S. envoy seeking a peace deal with the Taliban to end nearly 18 years of war in Afghanistan has arrived for talks in neighboring Pakistan.      Zalmay Khalilzad met on April 5 with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who "reiterated Pakistan's commitment to the peace process," a Foreign Ministry statement said.      Pakistan, which Washington and Kabul have long accused of harboring the Taliban leadership, is seen as playing a key role in securing a peace agreement.      Khalilzad is also expected to hold meetings with Pakistan’s top civilian and military leaders during his visit.      The veteran, Afghan-born diplomat has been shuttling back and forth to the region in a bid to garner support for a peace deal.      Khalilzad has held several rounds of talks with Taliban negotiators in Qatar, saying after the latest rounds of talks in March that the sides had made "real strides."      Before his Pakistan trip, Khalilzad visited Britain, Belgium, and Afghanistan. He is expected to travel to Uzbekistan and Jordan before an expected new round of talks with the Taliban in Qatar's capital, Doha, reportedly due to begin in mid-April.


rferl--2019-05-01--Taliban New Round Of Peace Talks With US Opening In Qatar

Taliban: New Round Of Peace Talks With U.S. Opening In Qatar

U.S. and Taliban representatives are due to meet in Qatar to resume talks aimed at ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan, the militant group says.  Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the sixth round of direct meetings between the Taliban and the United States since October 2018 will start in Doha on May 1.  Washington has said that Zalmay Khalilzad, the head of U.S. efforts to force a peace deal with the Taliban, will visit the Qatari capital this month to meet Taliban negotiators.  The group has so far refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, calling it a puppet of the West, and has insisted on the withdrawal of foreign forces before talks with Kabul can begin.  During a visit to the Afghan capital on April 28, Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan, said that the Taliban must change its ways and agree to a cease-fire if peace is to come to the country.  "If the Taliban insist on going back to the system they used to have, in my personal opinion it means the continuation of war not peace," the U.S. envoy told the private TV station Tolo News in Kabul.  On April 29-30, Khalilzad visited Islamabad to discuss "developments in the Afghan peace process" with the Pakistani leadership, according to a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.  The U.S. envoy "requested and received support for the need to accelerate intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations as well as a reduction in violence, concrete steps necessary for a comprehensive settlement," the statement said.  Last week, the United States, Russia, and China said in a joint statement that they have agreed on the goal of withdrawing foreign forces from Afghanistan and to seek an "inclusive Afghan-led" peace process.  The United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of Resolute Support, a NATO-led mission that provides training and assistance to security forces in Afghanistan as they battle Taliban fighters and other extremist groups, including the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.  On April 29 in Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opened a four-day Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, with more than 3,200 delegates seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban.  Ghani’s special envoy, Omar Daudzai, has said that the Loya Jirga bringing together politicians, tribal elders, and other prominent figures will provide the ground for "intra-Afghan talks" with the Taliban.  But the gathering was overshadowed by no-shows by several high-ranking officials, including Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani's partner in a unity government.


rferl--2019-05-02--Qatar Appoints First Ambassador To Afghanistan Amid Peace Push

Qatar has appointed an ambassador to Afghanistan for the first time, as the Persian Gulf nation hosts peace talks aimed at ending the nearly 18-year Afghan war.      Doha, the Qatari capital, hosts the Taliban's semiofficial political office and has been the location of the ongoing talks between the United States and the militant group.      The ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, issued a decree on April 29 appointing Saeed Mubarak al-Khayarin al-Hajri as the ambassador to Kabul.      Afghanistan has an embassy in Qatar, but the Gulf nation maintains no diplomatic presence in the Afghan capital.      Kabul has close ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Doha's rivals in the Gulf region.      U.S. and Taliban negotiators began their sixth round of direct talks in Qatar’s capital on May 1.      U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has narrowed the gaps on a potential peace deal under which U.S. forces would withdraw in return for guarantees that Afghanistan will not revert to a haven for international terrorists.      The Taliban has refused to hold talks with the government in Kabul, calling it a Western “puppet.”      An Afghan delegation, including government officials, was scheduled to meet Taliban officials in Doha on April 26. But the talks collapsed after disagreements over the composition of the delegation, which was to meet informally with Taliban leaders.      The Taliban political office was opened in 2013 to facilitate peace talks between the militant group, Kabul, and Washington.      But the talks were derailed after former Afghan President Hamid Karzai objected angrily to the presence of the Taliban's flag and insignia on the grounds of the building.      While Kabul refused to recognize the office, members of the Taliban's political wing have maintained it and it has been provided for by the Qatari government.


rferl--2019-05-19--Taliban German Envoys Meet In Qatar Amid Peace Push

Taliban, German Envoys Meet In Qatar Amid Peace Push

The Taliban has met in Qatar with Germany's special representative for Afghanistan amid international efforts to end the nearly 18-year war.  In a statement on May 19, the Taliban said Markus Potzel held talks with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's deputy leader who is leading the militant group's peace efforts.  U.S. and Taliban negotiators have met for several rounds of peace talks since last year, and despite progress have been unable to finalize a peace agreement.  Sohail Shaheen, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar, said in a statement on May 19 that Potzel and Baradar discussed "various aspects" of a possible peace deal, and "efforts of Germany in this regard."  Potzel, the ambassador to Afghanistan from 2014 to 2016, also met Baradar for talks on May 1.  The latest talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives ended on May 9, with U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad saying that "steady but slow progress" was made.  U.S. and Taliban negotiators have been trying to find agreement on four interconnected issues, including the Taliban breaking off ties with groups designated as terrorist by Washington, the timetable of a U.S. military withdrawal, a cease-fire in Afghanistan, and an intra-Afghan dialogue that would include the Taliban and government representatives.  The Taliban has refused to negotiate with the Western-backed Kabul government, viewing it as illegitimate.


rferl--2019-05-30--Afghan Politicians Taliban Cite Tremendous Progress During Moscow Peace Talks

Afghan Politicians, Taliban Cite 'Tremendous Progress' During Moscow Peace Talks

Senior Afghan politicians and the Taliban said they made progress during peace talks in Russia, although they did not make any significant breakthrough.      The May 28-30 talks in Moscow came amid international efforts to end the nearly 18-year war in Afghanistan.      In a May 30 joint statement, the sides said they held "productive and constructive" talks focusing on a possible cease-fire, the "strengthening of the Islamic system," and "women's rights."      "Both sides have had tremendous progress, but some issues require further discussions," the statement read.      Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's negotiating team, said that "spectacular progress" was made on issues including the withdrawal of international forces and a future political settlement.      However, Ata Mohammad Noor, a powerful regional leader, expressed some disappointment.      "Our expectations were higher," Noor said. "Our main message was on the cease-fire; a cease-fire could be the beginning of peace."      The sides met in Moscow on May 28 for a ceremony during which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.      The three-day meeting was the second hosted by Russia in recent months.      Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy seeking a peace deal with the Taliban, has held several rounds of talks with the militants in Qatar.      The sides have made progress, but the Taliban has so far rejected direct negotiations with Kabul.      Khalilzad has welcomed Russia’s peace efforts, although some U.S. officials have said Moscow was promoting itself as a power broker to challenge the U.S.-backed peace process with the Taliban.      The Taliban, which continues to stage daily attacks across Afghanistan, now effectively controls or influences about half of the country.


rferl--2019-06-22--Dozens Of Afghan Politicians At Pakistan Meeting To Bolster Peace Efforts With Taliban

Dozens of senior Afghan political figures are attending a peace conference in neighboring Pakistan aimed at paving the way for an intra-Afghan dialogue to end almost two decades of war with the Taliban.  The June 22 conference came ahead of a new round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban in Qatar that is scheduled for June 29.  The one-day conference at the tourist resort of Bhurban, about 70 kilometers from the capital Islamabad, also came ahead of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's June 27 visit to Pakistan.  Pakistan is believed to have influence within the Taliban and Islamabad’s support is considered key to ending the nearly 18-year insurgency.  Ghani, his political opponents, and a broad swath of civil society have been meeting in recent days with the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been pushing for talks between the Afghan government, the opposition, and the Taliban.  There are no representatives of the Taliban or the Western-backed Kabul government at the peace conference in Bhurban.  Among the over 30 high-profile Afghan figures attending the conference are Atta Mohammad Noor, a powerful figure from northern Afghanistan; Ghani's former national-security adviser Hanif Atmar, who is contesting the presidential election; and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a notorious former warlord from the Hezb-e Islami political party. Influential ex-President Hamid Karzai was invited but did not attend.  Afghanistan and Pakistan are looking to improve bilateral relations that are often hampered by mistrust and reciprocal accusations.  Kabul and Washington have long accused Pakistan of harboring Taliban militants who launch attacks inside Afghanistan, but Ghani said he was hopeful that years of mistrust can be replaced by cooperation toward peace.  Pakistan has offered support to U.S. efforts to broker an end to Afghanistan's long war the Taliban.  Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy seeking a peace deal with the Taliban, has held several rounds of talks in Qatar with senior members of the militant group.  The sides have made progress. But the Taliban has so far rejected direct negotiations with the Afghan government.


rferl--2019-06-30--New Round Of Afghan Peace Talks Held Amid Deadly Attacks

KABUL -- U.S. and Taliban negotiators have held a new round of talks in Qatar to try to put an end to the war in Afghanistan, amid continued attacks by the militant group on Afghan officials and security forces.      The seventh round of talks with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan, is "critical," Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on June 30, the second day of meetings in the Qatari capital, Doha, where the militant group maintains a political office.      Shaheen told AP that the two sides were looking for "tangible results" as they try to finalize agreements to end the nearly 18-year Afghan conflict -- the longest war in U.S. history.      The Taliban negotiating team is led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who co-founded the movement with the late Mullah Mohammad Omar.      The negotiations are expected to focus on working out a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and on a Taliban guarantee that militants will not plot attacks from Afghan soil.      The Taliban, driven from power by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, now controls large swaths of Afghanistan's territory.  The militant group has so far refused to talk directly to the Afghan government in Kabul, calling it a puppet of the West, and has continued to carry out nearly daily attacks across Afghanistan.  Late on June 29, a bomb attack in the southern province of Kandahar killed eight employees of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), according to Afghan officials.  They said the IEC employees were stationed at the government office in the Maruf district to register voters ahead of presidential polls set for September when the attack occurred.  Police said members of the security forces also suffered some casualties in the bombing, which was claimed by the Taliban.  Separately, an attack on a military checkpoint in Farah Province's Bala Buluk district left at least eight Afghan soldiers dead and eight more injured, local officials said.  On June 29, it was reported that Taliban militants attacked security posts in the northern province of Baghlan, killing at least 26 pro-government militiamen.  A Defense Ministry official in Kabul said the attack in Baghlan indicated that the Taliban wanted to negotiate from a position of strength.      The previous round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban took place in May.      During an unannounced visit to Kabul on June 25, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped for a peace deal with the Taliban "before September 1."


rferl--2019-08-01--Interview US Envoy Backs Afghan Presidential Election If No Peace Deal

Interview: U.S. Envoy Backs Afghan Presidential Election If No Peace Deal

KABUL -- The U.S. peace envoy seeking to negotiate an end to the nearly 18-year war in Afghanistan said peace negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban will determine whether the presidential election slated for September 28 is held.      In an interview with RFE/RL in the Afghan capital on July 31, Zalmay Khalilzad said the vote "depends on the outcome of the negotiations among the Afghans."      "We support any outcome that is reached," said Khalilzad, a veteran diplomat and a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. "But until that outcome is reached, we support [holding] the election."      U.S. officials have privately floated the possibility that the vote could be canceled in the event of a peace settlement and the formation of an interim government that the Taliban would join. There is support among the Taliban and Afghan opposition figures, but President Ashraf Ghani has strongly rejected it.      U.S. officials have said they hope to reach a peace agreement by September 1.      Khalilzad has held eight rounds of peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar, with both sides saying they have made significant progress on several components of a peace deal. But the Afghan government has been left out of the negotiations, with the Taliban refusing to deal with what they call a "U.S. puppet."        Khalilzad has said a comprehensive peace agreement will cover four key issues: the withdrawal of foreign troops, a Taliban guarantee to prevent terrorist attacks from Afghanistan, inter-Afghan dialogue leading to a political settlement, and a permanent cease-fire. In acknowledging the delicate situation, he has stressed that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."      Khalilzad, who was in Kabul for the past nine days for talks with Afghans, said his visit was "the most productive" since he was made a special envoy in September last year.      "We have reached an agreement with the Afghan government about the next steps towards reaching an agreement with the Taliban and towards peace," he said.  In a Twitter post on July 31, Khalilzad said he was off for another round of talks with the militants, and "if the Taliban do their part, we will do ours, and conclude the agreement we have been working on."      A bilateral U.S.-Taliban agreement to come first covers the withdrawal of foreign forces in exchange for guarantees by the Taliban not to harbor terrorist groups.      That deal will be a prelude to intra-Afghan peace negotiations on a political settlement and a permanent cease-fire.      The Taliban has said it will only negotiate with Kabul when Washington commits to withdrawing its troops.        Khalilzad stressed that the internationally-backed Kabul government would be only one actor in the intra-Afghan talks, alongside senior opposition leaders, civil society members, and women.      "A negotiating team representing the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is being finalized," said Khalilzad. "At the same time, a technical team that would support the negotiation team is being finalized. These are positive steps."      In expectations that Washington was close to agreeing an agreement with the Taliban, Afghanistan's Ministry of Peace Affairs announced on July 31 that it had appointed a 15-member delegation to negotiate with the Taliban.      It was unclear where those talks would be held, although reports said it could be in a European country.      Khalilzad also defended remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said on July 22 that "If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don't want to kill 10 million people."      The controversial remarks prompted anger in Afghanistan, where the government demanded that Trump clarify his comments.      Khalilzad said what the president meant was that "war is not the solution and a lot of people will be killed if we continue the war."      "I think [Trump's] intention is to solve the Afghanistan problem -- and that's why he appointed me -- through a peaceful way. Peace is the priority," he said.      When asked why the war in Afghanistan had dragged on for almost 18 years, Khalilzad said some local and international actors were against peace.      "There are some who benefit from the continuation of the war and take advantage of the war," he said.      U.S. and Afghan officials have long accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban. Russia and Iran have also established contacts with the militant group.      On Pakistan, Khalilzad said he had witnessed a "positive change" in its policies toward Afghanistan, its western neighbor.      "They want to help," said Khalilzad, referring to Islamabad. "But we always want Pakistan to take further steps."


rferl--2019-09-04--Afghan Officials Express Concern Over Draft US-Taliban Peace Deal

Afghan Officials Express Concern Over Draft U.S.-Taliban Peace Deal

Afghan officials say they support progress toward peace but are concerned about a draft agreement reached "in principle" between U.S. and Taliban negotiators on ending their 18-year conflict.  Afghan presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said in a series of tweets on September 4 that despite seeing a draft accord, questions remained over the contents of a deal and how it would be implemented.  "The Afghan government supports any progress in the peace process that will lead to lasting peace and an end to the war in Afghanistan, but the main concern of the Afghan government in the U.S. agreement with the Taliban is that of the consequences and dangers. How will they be prevented?" he said.  Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat who has led nearly a year of negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar, told RFE/RL on September 2 that the two sides had reached a deal "in principle" to end hostilities.  Under the draft peace deal, the Taliban agreed that any Afghan territory it controls in the future will not be used as a sanctuary for terrorists to launch attacks against the United States and its allies.  U.S. and Taliban negotiators also agreed on the gradual "reduction and withdrawal" of Western forces from Afghanistan, Khalizad said.  News of the deal prompted nine former U.S. ambassadors on September 3 to warn that Afghanistan could collapse into "total civil war" if the United States withdraws its forces before a "real" peace deal involving the Kabul government is reached with the Taliban.  Sediqqi echoed those sentiments in his tweets.  "As former officials and U.S. senators have concerns about the implications of this memorandum, the Afghan government is also concerned, and we therefore call for clarity on this document to address its dangers and consequences," he said.  Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Washington would reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan by almost half, to 8,600, if the peace deal was finalized.  The Taliban, which refuses to negotiate with the Afghan government calling it a foreign-imposed "puppet" regime, has long demanded a complete pullout of all foreign forces from the country.  About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are now in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some U.S. forces carry out counterterrorism operations.  The nine former U.S. ambassadors served under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Trump. They include James Dobbins, John Negroponte, and Ryan Crocker.


rferl--2019-11-01--Kyiv Says Date For Four-Way Peace Talks Depends Upon Russia

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko says the timing of a four-way summit aimed at resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine depends upon Russia.      Meanwhile, Ukraine's Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodnyuk said on November 1 that Kyiv was postponing the withdrawal of its forces from the town of Petrivske, a disengagement that had been planned for November 4, because of a cease-fire violation by Russia-backed separatists that occurred there on October 30.      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said on October 31 that the Petrivske disengagement would take place on November 4 provided the pro-Russia separatists there continued to respect a cease-fire agreement,      The disengagement of forces near Petrivske is seen as key step ahead of a long-awaited summit that would bring together leaders from Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany to discuss how to end the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists.      Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting the separatists in Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk region in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.      Under a deal reached earlier this month to end the five-year conflict, the sides agreed to start withdrawing from their positions near Petrivske and the town of Zolote.      "We are implementing the agreements that were reached," Prystayko told a press briefing in Kyiv on November 1.      "Effectively, there are two: recognizing the Steinmeier Formula as a way of solving this complicated issue, and disengagement at three sites. Today, we are close to disengaging at the last site, so in principle we will create all necessary conditions," Prystayko said.      The Steinmeier Formula lays the groundwork for reinvigorating the larger peace deals known loosely as the Minsk Accords, and the first major international summit on the Ukraine conflict in three years.      "Currently, [the so-called Normandy-format meeting] largely depends on the Russian side," Prystayko said.      Prystayko's statement comes after he voiced hope on October 29 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, next month for peace talks mediated by the leaders of France and Germany, in what is known as the Normandy format.      During a visit to Budapest on October 30, Putin said he was ready to have a meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, France, and Germany.      But Putin said such a meeting "needs to be well-prepared and produce specific results that will help the settlement."      Speaking in Kyiv on November 1, Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine planned to conduct large-scale exercises in the Black Sea with NATO next year, lasting four days.  With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Interfax


sottnet--2019-08-15--Decade in the making US-Taliban peace deal appears within reach

Decade in the making: US-Taliban peace deal appears within reach

In the fall of 2010, U.S. officials secretly met a young Taliban representative outside the southern German city of Munich.Tayyib Agha, a member of the militant group's political wing, presented the U.S. diplomats with a road map for a negotiated end to the war.It was not the United States' first contact with the Taliban.There had been contact between U.S. and Taliban military commanders. But the 2010 meeting, brokered by Germany, was a turning point in the conflict."For the first time, both the Taliban and the United States had some degree of seriousness in seeking talks towards a political settlement," Jarrett Blanc, a former diplomat who was involved in former President Barack Obama administration's negotiations with the Taliban, tells RFE/RL.But in the intervening years, meaningful U.S.-Taliban talks failed to take off, hampered by mutual mistrust, missed opportunities, protests by the Afghan government, and the deaths of two successive Taliban leaders.Now, nearly a decade since those initial secret contacts, the United States and the Taliban are apparently on the verge of agreeing to a landmark peace deal that would end the United States' longest-ever war.A U.S.-Taliban deal would see the withdrawal of at least some foreign troops from Afghanistan in return for Taliban guarantees that the country would not become a haven for terrorist groups. That agreement would commit the militants to launch separate negotiations with the Western-backed Kabul government over a political settlement and a permanent cease-fire.Afghan security forces arrive after a powerful explosion outside the provincial police headquarters in Kandahar Province last month. Talks have not led to any drop in Taliban attacks.For years, U.S. policy was to facilitate an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process between the Kabul government and the Taliban. But with the Taliban refusing to negotiate with state officials -- who they view as illegitimate -- the peace process was deadlocked.says Blanc, who from 2009-15 was first a senior adviser to U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and later the deputy and then the acting special representative."Eventually there needed to be an intra-Afghan deal, but there was also a conflict between the U.S. and the Taliban that needed to be addressed," Blanc adds. "We couldn't outsource that to the Afghan government and the Taliban wouldn't accept that in any case because they didn't think the Afghan government spoke for our military forces."The Afghan government has protested and vented its anger at being sidelined from the U.S.-Taliban negotiations. But significantly, Khalilzad has said that even if the United States and the Taliban come to an agreement,"Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," Khalilzad has said.The eighth round of U.S.-Taliban talks ended on August 12, with both sides hammering out the technical details and the implementation mechanisms of the potential agreement.The broad outlines of the agreement have been widely reported in U.S. media.Preparations are also under way in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where Khalilzad visited last week, for the launch of intra-Afghan negotiations.A draft of the agreement is also reported to includeThere is also no reported mention of the September 28 presidential election, with many Afghans believing that the vote may be postponed or scrapped altogether.In Afghanistan,"There's very much a risk of a peace deal that doesn't bring peace," Blanc says. "It depends on how well the United States plays its hand and uses its substantial remaining leverage provided by the continued U.S. troop presence. It also depends on how well Afghan parties, including the Afghan government, play their hand in intra-Afghan negotiations."Javid Ahmad, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, says the United States needs to address several key "flaws" in the potential agreement.This includes the United States conditioning its final withdrawal date on full and verifiable implementation of the intra-Afghan deal, he says, adding that the absence of a small, enduring U.S. military presence raised concerns over how the overall agreement will be implemented.He also says Washington needs to "exercise caution" while releasing the 13,000 Taliban prisoners to ensure that those freed do not join extremist groups like the Islamic State."Too much focus has been placed on securing a deal [on] paper and less so on the implementation," Ahmad says. "For now, the United States, it seems, is concerned about the former while the Afghan government is worried about the latter."


sottnet--2019-11-08--Hadi and Zubaidi to implement a peace deal to stabilize Yemen in the wake of secession threats

The internationally recognized Yemeni government, led by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), headed by Aidarus Zubaidi,media reported.The two leaders held a meeting on Thursday. During it, the president noted the "importance of making steps toward the implementation of all details of the Riyadh agreement to stabilize the situation in the south of the country", Al Arabiya reported Zubaidi, in his turn, noted the STC's readiness to support Hadi and work together with the government for the peace deal implementation. Hadi also expressed his willingness to settle the situation in southern Yemen as soon as possible through comprehensive peace dialogue.The STC was created in 2017 and Zubaidi, the former governor of Aden, became its chief.In 1990, the southern Democratic Republic of Yemen and the northern Yemen Arab Republic united into what today is Yemen. The south has been since seeking secession . The military confrontation between the south and north has been ongoing in parallel with the civil conflict between the government forces and the Houthi militia.Since 2015, the Saudi-led coalition joined the military action on the side of Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi's forces.The United Nations has repeatedly called the Yemeni conflict the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with an


sputnik--2019-02-11--Trump Administration Finishes Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plan Reports

Trump Administration Finishes Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plan – Reports

The final draft of the administration’s “Deal of the Century” is 175 to 200 pages long, with fewer than five people having access to the complete version of the document, sources told Fox News.  “The plan is done… [the president] is happy with the parameters of the deal,” a senior administration official said.  The US President has also been briefed by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, his Senior Adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as special envoy for Mideast peace Jason Greenblatt multiple times on the specifics of the deal, according to the source. Kushner is set to visit Warsaw to attend a summit hosted by the United States and Poland to discuss regional issues regarding the Middle East.  Kushner is also expected to travel with Greenblatt to five Gulf countries to discuss the specifics of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace deal with regional leaders, gathering support for his plan.  Senior government officials have noted that his plan is unlikely to be released before the upcoming Israeli elections on April 9.  “We are not going to do anything that threatens Israel’s security,” a senior administration official said.  The Palestinian Autonomy had rejected earlier attempts by the US to single-handedly negotiate a peace agreement with Israel following Trump's decision in December 2017 to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and acknowledge the whole city as Israel's capital. Trump's decision also escalated tensions between the Palestinian Authority and Israel and led to massive clashes on the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. However, in September 2018 the US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that the Trump administration’s long-awaited peace plan for Israel and Palestine would be completed soon.


sputnik--2019-02-24--CAR Leader Pledges to Create Inclusive Govt After Peace Deal With Armed Groups

CAR Leader Pledges to Create Inclusive Gov't After Peace Deal With Armed Groups

"The president of the republic, the head of state, is committed to creating an inclusive government immediately after the signing of this agreement", Article 21 of the agreement says.  The statement comes after Touadera and leaders of 14 armed groups signed on February 5 the peace deal, aimed at putting an end to the long-term conflict in the country. This was the result of almost two weeks of talks in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.  On 5 February, CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera and leaders of 14 armed groups initiated the peace agreement at talks in Khartoum. A day later, the deal was finalised and inked in the CAR capital of Bangui by the participants in the talks.  The Central African Republic has been suffering from a drawn-out conflict since a coup in 2013. Much of the fighting in recent years has been between Muslim-majority Seleka and Christian Anti-Balaka militias.


sputnik--2019-07-01--Afghan Peace Germany Qatar to Host Taliban-US Dialogue in Doha - US Special Envoy

Afghan Peace: Germany, Qatar to Host Taliban-US Dialogue in Doha - US Special Envoy

"I want to thank Germany [and] Qatar for agreeing to host the upcoming July 7-8 intra-Afghan Dialogue Conference. This dialogue is an essential element of the four-part peace framework [and] an important step in advancing the Afghan Peace Process", Khalilzad said via Twitter.  The Taliban and the United States are trying to reach a peace deal that will include the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and assurances from the Taliban that the country will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists.  The US has said that it seeks a comprehensive deal that also includes a permanent ceasefire and intra-Afghan talks. The Taliban said they do not want to discuss intra-Afghan talks and a ceasefire with the United States.  The Taliban-US peace talks have entered the third day in the Qatari capital of Doha. A Taliban official said earlier that he hoped the talks would be effective.  The insurgents want US troops to leave the country in return for guarantees that it will not harbor foreign militants. Washington wants the Taliban to agree to a permanent ceasefire and enter direct talks with the Afghan government, whom the Taliban consider to be a US puppet.  Last week, spokesman for the movement said that the Taliban hope to reach a peace deal for Afghanistan with the United States within two months.  *The Taliban is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.