Truce with Taliban is not without risk, signals US defence chief
MUNICH: US defence secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that a truce agreement between the US and the Taliban that could lead to the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan is not without risk but “looks very promising”.
Ahead of a formal announcement of the seven-day “reduction in violence” deal, Esper said it was time to give peace a chance in Afghanistan through a political negotiation. He spoke a day after a senior US official said the deal had been concluded and would take effect very soon.
Expectations are that agreement will be formally announced on Sunday and that the reduction in violence will begin on Monday, according to people familiar with the plan.
“So we have on the table right now a reduction in violence proposal that was negotiated between our ambassador and the Taliban,” Esper told an audience at the Munich Security Confererence. “It looks very promising.” “It’s my view as well that we have to give peace a chance, that the best if not the only way forward in Afghanistan is through a political agreement and that means taking some risk,” he said. “That means enabling our diplomats and that means working together with our partners and allies on the ground to affect such a thing.”
Esper and secretary of state Mike Pompeo met on Friday in Munich with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has been skeptical of the scheme, which would see an end to attacks for seven days and then the signing of a Us-taliban peace deal.
All-afghan peace talks would then begin within 10 days as part of the plan, which envisions the phased withdrawal of US forces over 18 months.
HUAWEI A MAJOR THREAT TO NATO?
Top US officials fired a fresh broadside at Huawei, warning the Chinese tech giant posed a threat to NATO if allies allowed it to build new 5G networks. Esper said Huawei was the “poster child” for China’s “nefarious strategy” to infiltrate and dominate western infrastructure.