ISLAMABAD – The salient features of the historic peace deal between Americaand Afghan Taliban have been revealed.
The Taliban have provided the undertaking that the Afghan soil will not beused by militants to target American soldiers or allies of the US.Furthermore, on March 10, 2020, the Taliban will take part in intra-Afghannegotiations to determine a future political roadmap for Afghanistan.
“A permanent and comprehensive ceasefire will be an item on the agenda ofthe intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations.
The participants of infra-Afghan negotiations will discuss the date andmodalities of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, including jointimplementation mechanisms, which will be announced along with thecompletion and agreement over the future political roadmap of Afghanistan,”read the agreement.
According to part 1 of the agreement, the United States and Coalitionpartners have agreed to withdraw all military forces within 14 months ofthe agreement. These include “non-diplomatic civilian personnel, privatesecurity contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting servicespersonnel”.
The US has given an undertaking to withdraw troops from Afghanistan andleave only 8.600 soldiers in the country at first. A proportionate declinein Coalition troops and allies will take place as well.
The US and Coalition troops have also agreed to withdraw all their forcesfrom five military bases.
Read Top Stories
Part II of the agreement mentions that the US and Taliban have agreed torelease combat and political prisoners from each side. The US has agreed torelease 5,000 Taliban prisoners while 1,000 prisoners of the other sidewill be released by the Taliban by March 10, the first day of theintra-Afghan negotiations.
In the next nine-and-a-half months, the US and Coalition forces willwithdraw all remaining forces from Afghanistan and from its military bases.
The US has also agreed to review and take back sanctions against theTaliban by August 27, 2020. It will then engage with the members of the UNSecurity Council and Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from the sanctionslist. This, the two sides have agreed, will happen by May 29, 2020.
“With the start of intro-Afghan negotiations, the United States will startdiplomatic engagement with other members of the United Nations SecurityCouncil and Afghanistan to remove members of the Islamic Emirate ofAfghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and isknown as the Taliban from the sanctions list with the aim of achieving thisobjective by May 29, 2020,” read the agreement.
The agreement states that the US and the post-settlement Afghan Islamicgovernment will have positive relations with each other. Washington, inturn, will seek economic cooperation for reconstruction with the newgovernment in place (in accordance with the intra-Afghan negotiations) andnot intervene in its internal affairs.
