[A senior American official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations that were still continuing, said that the Taliban delegation had asked for time to confer with their leadership about the American insistence that the insurgents talk with the Afghan government and agree to a cease-fire as part of any finalized deal. The official said they had made it clear to the Taliban that all the issues discussed were “interconnected” as part of a “package deal” that he likened to a Russian nesting doll. The official’s account was supported by details that have been leaked by some Taliban and Western officials in recent days.]
By Mujib Mashal
 |
|
Afghan Army troops, left,
and American soldiers attacking a Taliban firing position
in 2013.CreditCreditBryan
Denton for The New York Times
|
KABUL,
Afghanistan — American and
Taliban officials have agreed in principle to the framework of a peace deal in
which the insurgents guarantee to prevent Afghan territory from being used by
terrorists, and that could lead to a full pullout of American troops in return
for a cease-fire and Taliban talks with the Afghan government, the chief United
States negotiator said Monday.
“We have a draft of the framework that has to
be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement,” the American envoy, Zalmay
Khalilzad, said in an interview with The New York Times in Kabul. “The Taliban
have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent
Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or
individuals.”
He added: “We felt enough confidence that we
said we need to get this fleshed out, and details need to be worked out.”
After nine years of halting efforts to reach
a peace deal with the Taliban, the draft framework, though preliminary, is the
biggest tangible step toward ending a two-decade war that has cost tens of
thousands of lives and profoundly changed American foreign policy.
A senior American official, speaking on
condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations that were still continuing, said
that the Taliban delegation had asked for time to confer with their leadership
about the American insistence that the insurgents talk with the Afghan
government and agree to a cease-fire as part of any finalized deal. The
official said they had made it clear to the Taliban that all the issues
discussed were “interconnected” as part of a “package deal” that he likened to
a Russian nesting doll. The official’s account was supported by details that
have been leaked by some Taliban and Western officials in recent days.
Although other Taliban sources said that more
concrete details of an American troop withdrawal had already been agreed upon,
American officials said on Monday that those details had not yet been hashed
out.
Mr. Khalilzad returned to Afghanistan on
Sunday to brief the government in Kabul after conducting six days of talks with
the Taliban delegation in Doha, Qatar.
In an address to the nation after being
briefed by Mr. Khalilzad, President Ashraf Ghani expressed concern that a peace
deal would be rushed. He highlighted previous settlements that ended in
bloodshed, including when the Soviet Union withdrew from the country in the
late 1980s.
Despite a promise of a peace deal at the
time, Afghanistan broke into anarchy, and years later the Afghan president who
had been in charge during that transition was hanged from a pole at a traffic
roundabout.
“We want peace quickly, we want it soon, but
we want it with prudence,” Mr. Ghani said. “Prudence is important so we do not
repeat past mistakes.”
During the talks last week, the Taliban
signaled their seriousness by appointing one of their most powerful officials
from the original movement, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, as their chief peace
negotiator.
Though American and Afghan officials said
that Mr. Baradar was not directly involved in the marathon meetings last week,
with some sessions lasting as long as eight hours, he was expected to take the
lead in the talks to come. The senior American officials said new high-level
talks would start in late February, but suggested that teams from both sides
could start on technical details before then.
The interview with Mr. Khalilzad on Monday
was the first time that the American government had directly confirmed some
details of the agreement taking shape.
As the first step in the framework, Mr.
Khalilzad said that the Taliban were firm about agreeing to keep Afghan
territory from being used as a staging ground for terrorism by groups like Al
Qaeda and other international terrorists, and had agreed to provide guarantees
and an enforcement mechanism for that promise.
That had long been a primary demand by
American officials, in an effort to keep Afghanistan from reverting back to
being the kind of terrorist base it had been at the war’s start, in 2001 after
Al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
The next set of contingencies laid out by the
senior American official involved in the talks would see the United States
agreeing to withdraw combat troops from Afghanistan, but only in return for the
Taliban’s entering talks with the Afghan government and agreeing to a lasting
cease-fire.
Those last two points have long been resisted
by Taliban officials, and could still provide trouble with the process,
officials say. The Taliban delegation in Qatar said they had to break to
discuss those details with their leadership.
But the agreement in principle to discussing
them at all was seen as a breakthrough after years of failed attempts, American
and Afghan officials said.
There is concern among senior Afghan
officials about the fact that the Afghan government has still been sidelined
from the talks. Officials close to Mr. Ghani say he is particularly concerned
that the Americans might negotiate important agreements that Afghan officials
are not party to, potentially including the shape of an interim government
outside of elections.
Mr. Ghani has repeatedly insisted that such
details only be taken up in direct talks between the government and the
Taliban.
On Monday, Mr. Khalilzad insisted that he was
trying to push the Taliban to negotiate those points directly with the Afghan
side.
“There are a lot of reports that we have
discussed an interim government: No, I have not gotten into any of that
discussion,” Mr. Khalilzad said. “I have not entered into what that could look
like with the Taliban — they would like to talk to me about it, but I have
not.”
Fahim Abed contributed reporting.
