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Pentagon: Taliban ‘Have Not Met Their Commitments' in Peace Deal with U.S.
 [Breitbart] A spokesman for the Pentagon said Thursday that the Taliban was jeopardizing the peace process with the United States by failing to live up to its promise to cut ties with terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and cease its attacks on Afghan forces.American officials began a new round of talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in September that resulted in an agreement Trump administration officials hoped would help result in a final exit of American troops from Afghanistan. The top concerns of American negotiators were to convince the Taliban to stop cooperating with terrorist groups that seek to kill Americans, like al-Qaeda, and to encourage Taliban officials to use political means, and not attacking U.S. troops, to amass political power. The Taliban demanded an end to the Afghan government — the Taliban considers itself the only legitimate government of Afghanistan — and the imposition of a Sunni jihadist caliphate in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is already an Islamic republic, governed in part by sharia, or Islamic law. While American officials did not agree to that demand, the Taliban did succeed in getting the Afghan government to agree to free hundreds of Taliban jihadis from prison, moving the talks forward. Afghanistan documented a dramatic decline in civilian casualties in 2020, according to the United Nations, in part fueled by diminished Taliban attacks on Americans and civilians, and increased attacks on Afghan security forces. American forces were scheduled to depart Afghanistan completely by May 2021 in the event that the Taliban followed through on its promises. The Pentagon’s warning that the Taliban have, in addition to continuing to attack Afghan forces, also maintained ties to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda could fray the already delicate diplomatic situation. "We are still involved in trying to get a negotiated settlement. The Taliban have not met their commitments," John Kirby, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said Thursday, according to Afghanistan’s Khaama News. "Without them meeting their commitments to renounce terrorism and to stop the violent attacks on the Afghan national security forces, and by dint of that the Afghan people, it’s very hard to see a specific way forward for the negotiated settlement." Posted by: Besoeker 2021-01-30 |
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