Truce with Taliban could pave way for US leaving Afghanistan

THE United States and the Taliban have negotiated a confidence-building lull in fighting to set up a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and end America’s longest ever war.

The seven-day partial truce, which could begin within days, will usher in a withdrawal deal scheduled to be signed by the enemies as early as the last day of February.

That deal would then trigger March peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government to be held in either Norway or Germany.

Weeks of negotiations in Doha have seen the US and Taliban agree on a “re- duction of violence” to allow the militants to show they have sufficient control to rein in their forces and are serious about a political settlement.

Western officials said the partial truce had strengthened a deal due to be signed last September, before Donald Trump called off talks because the militants continued to carry out attacks and kill American troops.

“The United States and the Taliban have negotiated a proposal for a sevenday reduction in violence,” Mark Esper, the US defence secretary, said at Nato headquarters in Brussels.

“It is our view that seven days for now is sufficient but in all things our approach to this process will be conditions-based. So it will be a continual evaluative process as we move forward, if we go forward.” A senior Taliban source told The Daily Telegraph that if the lull passed off smoothly, a deal would then be signed on Feb 29 laying out a timetable to pull out US troops. Talks between the Afghan government and Taliban envoys would then begin.

Yet Western officials warned they remained “anxious” and “tentative” about how the truce would unfold and warned that talks among the Afghan government and Taliban would be difficult and lengthy.

The Taliban is reported to have refused an outright ceasefire, but will significantly cut attacks.

Haroun Mir, a Kabul-based political analyst, said the seven-day truce was largely symbolic.

He said: “In the middle of winter, most of the Afghan mountains are covered with snow and it’s still freezing during the night, so during the winter violence is reduced naturally. But if it is just a start in order to prevent bloodshed in the next fighting season then yes, it is worth trying it.”

US troops will take around 18 to 24 months to pull out if talks progress and violence reduces, sources said.

While America has spent 18 months trying to reach a deal with the Taliban, officials warned that the next stage, where the militants and Afghans sit down to talk, will be far more difficult.

The Taliban has so far given little indication of what sort of government it wants to see in the country, and many Afghans fear the insurgents remain bent on conquest to restore their oppressive emirate of the Nineties.