This article is written by Lavanya Gupta, pursuing BBA LLB(H) from the school of Law, Ansal University. It is an exhaustive article which deals with various modes of execution under a guide on the US-Taliban agreement. 

Introduction

The Taliban leaves unresolved agreement with important aspects of how the United States would wind-down the security operations in Afghanistan. The process was said to unfold in many parts that were critical with the United States’ clear pursuit in terms of going forward with every side which also included Afghanistan and made certain commitments from each side by which they were enforced. More than eighteen years of war in Afghanistan, the agreement reached in between the United States and the Taliban which was intensive in most sides’ effort on both the end of the war.

The deal was signed in the central drawdown of troops in the US and also guaranteed the Taliban country that they will not become a haven from terrorists. The stress deal was made by the experts between US President Donald J. Trump’s administration and the leadership in the Taliban was the only first step to achieve the last peace. The biggest challenge would be the negotiating agreement between the Islamist and the fundamentalist group with the government of Afghan on Afghanistan’s future. Afghans were exhausted by the war which killed thousands of people and millions of refugees were forced to fear the withdrawal of spark with new conflicts which allowed the Taliban to regain control eventually. 

Background of the deal

In October 2001 the US went to Afghanistan and a few weeks after the terror attack on 9/11 to defeat terrorists (Al-Qaeda) and rebuild the country with stabilization. The longest war in history was between the US and Afghanistan which was 19 years. The estimate was that the Afghan cost $2-trillion and more than 3500 American’s and coalition soldiers were killed. Thousands of people were lost both the civilians and the soldiers in Afghanistan. The Taliban was the strongest moment after all these since the US was launched. The control of half of the country was mainly in the hinterlands. The war entered into a stalemate for a by long and the US failed to turn it around despite both American Presidents, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump to send additional troops. No other way was faced by the US who just wanted to leave Afghanistan. 

Key elements of the agreement

Troops Withdrawal

8600 troops were drawn by the US in 235 days from the 14000 present troops. Within 14 months all the troops were out. The partners and alliance in the Afghan mission of security which was known as ‘Resolute’ and reduced their military in the presence of the country with the recognition of the new agreement. The resolution has consisted at present of 17000 troops from 39 countries. 

Taliban commitment

They will not allow any member, individual, or groups which include al-Qaeda to use the soil of Afghanistan who was threatened by the security of the US and allies who excluded India from it. 

Intra-Afghan negotiations

The Kabul government was engaged with the Taliban directly to find the lasting solution from 10th March to the civil war. 

Sanctions Removal: Taliban leaders under the US sanctions were removed by three months till 29th May and US sanctions by 27th August. By giving refugees Pakistan was accused of these sanctioned persons and the reason for Pakistan being in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list by supporting terrorists. 

Prisoner Release

5000 prisoners in the Taliban and 1000 prisoners from the other side held by the Taliban were released by 10th March which was intra-Afghan negotiations were supposed to start in Oslo. 

Ceasefire

The stated agreement of ceasefire would simply be an item on the agenda at the talks of intra-Afghan starts and indicated the actual ceasefire that would come with some completion of a political agreement in Afghan.

Key deals in the US-Taliban agreement

The US and the Taliban signed a peace deal on 29th February 2020, in Doha, Qatar, after the conflicts for more than 18 years. Four main provisions were contained in the agreement (US Department of State, 29th February 2020) were: 

Halt attacks against the US

The guarantee was provided by the Taliban that would prevent the use of Afghanistan soil by any group or individual against the security of the US and allies. 

Withdrawal of US troops

The withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghan was agreed by the US which stipulated the first 135 days and the US personnel in numbers would be reduced with the proximity of 13000 to 8600. The Taliban also committed and obligated the actions in all the remaining forces that were withdrawn by the end of April 2021. 

Prisoner swap

The commitment of the Us was to start the work immediately with all the relevant sides on the plan for the release of 5000 Taliban prisoners and 1000 government prisoners by 10th March 2020 with the confidence of measuring the buildings. 

Intra-Afghan peace talks

Throughout the negotiation, the Taliban was processed with the US direct talk’s rejection with the Afghan government and they agreed to start the intra-Afghan negotiations on 10th March 2020. The agreement was released publicly and was not contained with any provision for the Taliban that the attacks were reduced against government forces and the agreement annexes that outlined the classified deals were implemented. The spokesman for the command of the US military in Afghanistan was indicated by the de facto fifth provision in the recent statement (Military Times, 6th May 2020). 

Reduction of violence

The sides were made by the spoken commitment and reduced the violence by 80%. The report was more than 10 weeks and was assessed by the implementation of these five key tenets in the US-Taliban peace deal. The mutual commitments were fulfilled by the Us and the Taliban towards each other and the prison swap of intra-afghan with peace talks, and the reduction of violence that has been marred by the delays and the setbacks. 

US and Taliban agreement terms

The nine rounds were discussed as follows with the negotiations signed in a peace agreement in February 2020 that addressed four main issues:

• Cease-fire were the negotiators who agreed to the reduction temporarily in the violence and the lasting cease-fire was among the US, Taliban, and Afghan forces that would be the part of intra-Afghan negotiations.
• The foreign forces were withdrawn by the US and agreed to reduce its troops in number in the country from a rough graph of 12000 to 8600 within 135 days. The commitments were followed by the Taliban that all the US and other foreign troops would leave Afghanistan within fourteen months. The caution was indicated by the experts that pulling troops out too quickly would be destabilizing. 
• Negotiations of intra-Afghan were agreed to start the talk with the Taliban and the Afghan government in March 2020. The negotiation process in the Taliban was resisted with the direct talks with the government and calling them the American puppets. Recently the Taliban indicated the possible talks with the Deputy of Taliban leader “Mr. Sirajuddin Haqqani”, in writing in the New York Times op-ed and if they reached an agreement with the foreign enemy then they must be able to resolve the intra-Afghanistan disagreements through the talks. 
• The assurance of counterterrorism in the US was invaded by Afghanistan on 11th September 2001 and largely attacked to eliminate the threat of terrorism so that half of the terrorist activities were done in the country which includes al-Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The part of the agreement in which the Taliban guaranteed Afghanistan that they would not use any of their members, other individuals, or any group of terrorists to threaten the US’s security and its allies. 

The officials of the US were stressed about the rights of protecting women. In 2001 the overthrow of the Taliban to shutter the group of girls’ schools and women was prevented from the works and the rest of them were abused. During the intra-Afghan talks, the issues were discussed. 

Challenges 

The process of peace was supported by the vast majority of Afghans and many issues were left to be worked out in negotiations of intra-Afghans which include the sharing of powers in disarming and reintegrating into the society of the Taliban fighters and also determine the future of the democratic institution of the country and constitution. The negotiations were precariously off from the start of the US-Taliban deal in February. The release in the agreed US and the Taliban of up to five thousand Taliban prisoners in the exchange of one thousand Afghan security forces but no such commitment was there from the swap of the Afghan government. 

By the weak central government, the process was complicated and afflicted by the ethnic, sectarian, and tribal differences. The election in the country in 2019 was marred by many problems in which only 1.8 million were registered out of 9 million voters in the cast ballots and polling stations attacks were happening and the results were on standby for months. When the winner was announced by President Ashraf Ghani then the Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah his challenger was contested on the results and formed his government said by him.

The experts said that the Taliban is stronger at the same time and now at any point in the last eighteen years. Many districts were controlled by these sixty estimated thousand fighters in the whole country and major attacks were launched continuously which include Kabul and Afghan security bases. Opium poppy cultivation earns millions of dollars by illegal drug trade which has further problems for the process of peace. Analysts were also worried about the rank-and-file fighters of the Taliban that might not abided by the deal of peace. 

On the border of Afghanistan, many countries which include Pakistan served as many home base leaderships of the Taliban were excluded from the talks, and opposition was mobilized against the opposition. The threat of the terrorist was present with more than twenty terrorist groups operating inside the country and the officials of Afghan were accorded. The aligned groups with the Taliban or al-Qaeda in the concern of the resurgence of the Islamic State.  

US-Taliban’s landmark agreement

The invasion of the US and Afghanistan nearly started 7000 miles away in September morning when the planes were hijacked and slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. More than 18 years on Saturday after the terror attack on 11th Sept. 2001, the bid was made to the end of America’s longest war. 

The battlefields of Afghanistan were a hundred miles from the glitzy banquet hall, a five-star hotel in Qatar, US, and the Taliban signed the landmark agreement in the way that paves for the US troops to withdraw from the poor and the central Asian war-torn country. Any members were not allowed in the Taliban with other individuals or groups which also include al-Qaeda to use Afghanistan’s soil who threaten the security of the US and its allies to state the agreements. The US pact reduced its force to 88600 from 13000 in the next three-four months. 

The US force was remained to withdraw in 14 months that would complete the pullout and was depended upon the Taliban commitments in the meeting to prevent terrorism. The special envoy of the US ‘Zalmay Khalilzad’ and the chief negotiator of the Taliban with the founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Doha signed the agreement after a year of on-off formal talks. The room was broken out in the whoops, cheers, and shouts at the signing of the ‘God are Great’. Dozens of members of the Taliban have exited the ceremony beaming after the room. The Secretary of the US of State Mike Pompeo has attended the ceremony and not signed the agreement to bring peace to Afghanistan and then the Taliban pledged to enter the peace talks with the government of Afghan officials who represent the opposition and the members of the civil society on 10th March. 

The committed work in the US with both sides was upcoming in the talks to secure the release of 5000 prisoners that were held by the government of Afghan and 1000 prisoners at the start of intra-Afghan peace talks held by the Taliban. The lift was also agreed by Washington in the Security Council of the UN to remove the sanctions against the members of the Taliban within three months. Reporters were speaking about the US with the realistic deal signed but the seizing peace for the best opportunity in generations. Later the troops of the Us noted that some of them in the country would not be born when the war was broken out. The Secretary-General of NATO ‘Jens Stoltenberg’ was in Kabul for another signing ceremony on Saturday with Esper and Ghani.

9/11 Roots

The terror attack was deadliest on the American soil who killed 3000 people and also prompted President George W. Bush sent the first wave of the US troops to Afghanistan and many Americans of the country who could not spot the map in October 2001. The topple in the mission was refined by the Taliban after giving shelter to Al-Qaeda and its leaders, Osama bin Laden and the architect of the terror attack on 11th September 2001. The swift invasion overthrew the militants and was wounded by many thousands of others. 12000 to 13000 troops were there in Afghanistan currently after 18 years who also advised the Afghan force to carry out the counterterrorism operations against Al-Qaeda with the militant group of Islamic State. 

The repeated rail against America’s President Donald Trump in the endless wars to go abroad and the deal on Saturday would give him his re-election bid. The war of America in Afghanistan has spanned three US administrators. The predecessor of Trump in the White House, Barack Obama also tried to extricate the troops in the US from the country and the outlines were also planned for the final exit. The end of concerns held by Obama was about the powers staying with the Afghan security forces against an insurgency of resilience. The devastating toll was taken by the war. The world’s top list in deadliest conflicts was Afghanistan currently. 

Children have accounted for the third estimate in 2016 with 11000 civilians in the conflict every year as per the Human Rights Watch. The systematic documenting in the UN had an impact on civilians in 2009 and was recorded with 100000 civilians and more casualties which include 35000 killed people and 65000 injured people. More than 58000 Afghan security between 2001 and October 2018 were also killed as per the study of Brown University. The two decades after the US which was invaded with billions of American taxpayer dollars with the control of the Taliban who were influenced and contested by half of the country as per the last report by the Department of Defense in numbers released in January 2019. 

The government of Afghan was perceived by the world’s most corrupted and facing its political crisis as rivals in the results of the refute of September’s election of the president who also claimed that the polling was riddled with fraud. The women’s status in Afghanistan with many other parts of life in the Afghan with the up in the air to return to the Taliban rule in the country potentially jeopardizes two decades for Afghan women’s progress. The security of Americans was highlighted through the search of Esper in Kabul on Saturday. The secretary of defence issued the message to thank the almost 800000 troops of the Us that have served in Afghanistan since the war began. Many months were withdrawn fully and were cautioned. There are still terror groups in Afghanistan that were added to the mission that was far from over.

Conclusion

The Taliban leaves unresolved agreement with important aspects of how the United States would wind-down the security operations in Afghanistan. The deal was signed in the central drawdown of troops in the US and also guaranteed the Taliban country that they will not become a haven from terrorists. The stress deal was made by the experts between US President Donald J. Trump’s administration and the leadership in the Taliban was the only first step to achieve the last peace. The longest war in history was between the US and Afghanistan which was 19 years. 

No other way was faced by the US who just wanted to leave Afghanistan. The US and the Taliban signed a peace deal on 29th February 2020, in Doha, Qatar, after the conflicts for more than 18 years. There are still terror groups in Afghanistan that were added to the mission that was far from over. The release in the agreed US and the Taliban of up to five thousand Taliban prisoners in the exchange of one thousand Afghan security forces but no such commitment was there from the swap of the Afghan government. 

References

• https://www.justsecurity.org/69154/the-u-s-taliban-agreement-not-a-ceasefire-or-a-peace-agreement-and-other-international-law-issues/
• https://iasbaba.com/2020/03/us-taliban-pact-doha-agreement/
• https://acleddata.com/2020/05/22/the-us-taliban-peace-deal-10-weeks-on/
• https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-taliban-peace-deal-agreement-afghanistan-war
• https://apnews.com/fa41245d47d48332b10c8aeadcd6cb73
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/ChanakyaCode/us-taliban-deal-us-retreat-from-afghanistan/
• https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-us-war-a9366631.html
• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-sign-landmark-agreement-bid-end-america-s-longest-war-n1145166
• https://www.justsecurity.org/69154/the-u-s-taliban-agreement-not-a-ceasefire-or-a-peace-agreement-
• https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/a-big-bad-deal-the-hindu-editorial-on-us-taliban-agreement/article30957934.ece
• https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/taliban-peace-agreement-200229134403285.html

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