Honor troop deal, Taliban urge Biden

The Taliban called on President-elect Joe Biden to honor a U.S. agreement to withdraw all American forces from Afghanistan by May in order to secure intra-Afghan peace talks and end the two-decade war.

“Steps must now be taken to end the war, not to prolong it, and the agreement was made for the purpose,” Mohammad Naeem, a senior spokesman in the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar, said Monday, referring to the group’s accord with the U.S. Signed in February, the deal paves the way for a U.S. exit in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.

“The lack of complete implementation of the agreement can affect the ongoing process of negotiations,” he added.

The call from the insurgent group came just days after the U.S. reduced its troop level from 4,500 to 2,500 at President Donald Trump’s direction, despite opposition from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who have warned of the potential effect on counterterrorism operations. Naeem cheered the reduction on Twitter, saying the move was a “good advancement.”

While it’s unclear whether

Biden will withdraw all U.S. troops by the May deadline, his pick for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on CNN earlier this month that the new administration would support “diplomacy” with the Taliban, urging the insurgent group to cut ties with al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations, ensure a reduction in violence and participate in “good-faith negotiations” with the Afghan government.

The Biden transition team declined to weigh in Monday.

Andrew Watkins, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the troop withdrawal deadline is the biggest early challenge for the peace process and the most urgent decision for the Biden team.

“If the Biden administration ignores the deadline set down in the U.S.-Taliban agreement without discussing and clearing a delay with the insurgents, the Taliban will almost certainly respond by escalating their use of force — either via attacks on population centers, facilities housing international troops or both,” Watkins said Monday.

A reduction in U.S. troops — who provide air support to Afghan forces — won’t affect the ability of Afghan forces to push back against the Taliban, said a spokesman for the country’s National Security Council, Rahmatullah Andar.

The Afghan government and Taliban resumed negotiations in early January under the shadow of a series of targeted killings of journalists, government employees and independent human-rights advocates. In the latest unclaimed gun attack in Kabul, two female Supreme Court judges were killed Sunday on their way to work, according to the country’s Presidential Palace.

The new wave of violence has raised the level of fear and anxiety among Afghans and forced some prominent local journalists to flee the country. Since November, five journalists have been killed in targeted attacks and two others have died in Kabul from unknown causes. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the U.S. have blamed the Taliban for the killings, which the group denies.

Attempting to end the bloodshed, Ghani’s negotiating team is pushing harder for a cease-fire agreement before negotiating other key agenda items — including a power-sharing deal — with the Taliban. However, the group wants to declare a cease-fire in the final stages of the talks.

“The Taliban should understand that such actions for which it bears responsibility outrage the world and must cease if peace is to come to Afghanistan,” the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, Ross Wilson, said on Twitter on Sunday, condemning the attacks on the judges.

While it’s unclear whether Biden will withdraw all U.S. troops by the May deadline, his pick for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on CNN earlier this month that the new administration would support

“diplomacy” with the Taliban.