More than 18 years after invading Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks, the Americans have reached an agreement with the Taliban to end the conflict. The deal signed in Doha on Saturday will see the 5,000 remaining US and Nato troops withdraw over the next 18 months. For Donald Trump it fulfils a promise to bring troops home from foreign combat zones. For the Taliban, it is the legitimacy they crave, a formal international recognition of their pivotal role in Afghanistan, whose official government was not even represented at the talks. The absolute condition on the Taliban is that they do not allow Afghanistan to become once again the headquarters of Islamist terrorists intent upon striking against the West.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 02, 2020 05:03 UTC