After several rounds of talks, a peace agreement between the Taliban and the USA is to be signed on Saturday. But it can only be the first step towards a lasting peace solution.
Last August, the US, and Taliban representatives were about to conclude an agreement in Doha. In September, however, Donald Trump ended negotiations in response to a Taliban attack on US soldiers. However, this interruption lasted only a few weeks, and then both sides resumed their talks, so that, almost five months later, they are now ready to sign the historic agreement. The decisive prerequisite for this was compliance with a week of “reduced violence”, which the Taliban and the USA had agreed on.
“The Americans alone have no leverage to get the Taliban to the deal they want,” Pakistani security expert Ali K. Chishti told DW. Trump has used his good relationship with Prime Minister Imran Khan: “The Pakistani military leadership has exerted its influence and ensured that the Pakistani Taliban caused their comrades-in-law in Afghanistan to stop attacking US targets.”
According to observers, the main subject of an agreement will be the reduction of American troop presence. The Taliban’s main demand since its fall in 2001 has been to withdraw all foreign troops from Afghanistan. Trump, on the other hand, wants to be able to tell his voters in the fall that he is bringing American soldiers home from the unpopular mission in the Hindu Kush.
