However, the renegotiations would have been difficult. Biden would have had little influence. Like Trump, he wanted to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. Withdrawing from the deal could have forced him to send back thousands more. Even in the description of al-Qaeda in the agreement, the Taliban refused to accept the word “terrorist.” The language emphasizes the Taliban`s commitment to prevent future attacks, not the regrets of the past. Austin said that by urging the U.S. to end airstrikes against the Taliban, the Doha deal meant the Islamist group “has strengthened, they have intensified their offensive operations against Afghan security forces, and Afghans have lost a lot of people every week.” Lord. Esper stressed that if the Taliban violated the promises, “the United States would not hesitate to cancel the deal.” The historic agreement has always been high-level diplomacy that required some degree of trust in the Taliban as a potential peacemaker and was signed despite skepticism from war-weary Afghans who feared losing their authority in a power-sharing agreement. On February 29, 2020, in Doha, Qatar, the Trump administration signed an agreement with the Taliban in which the United States promised to completely withdraw its troops by May 2021, with the Taliban pledging on several terms, including stopping attacks on U.S. and coalition forces. The stated goal was to promote peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Kabul, but these diplomatic efforts never gained popularity until Biden took office in January.
Among other things, the February pact also provided for a prisoner exchange, the opening of intra-Afghan negotiations and the lifting of sanctions. The Afghan government was not a party to the February agreement. The agreement sets out commitments the Taliban should make to prevent terrorism, including commitments to abandon al-Qaeda and prevent that group or other Afghan soil from being used to plan attacks against the United States or its allies. While the agreement required the Taliban to stop attacks on U.S. and coalition forces, it did not explicitly require them to expel al-Qaeda or stop attacks on the Afghan army. The agreement sets a timetable for the final withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the impoverished Central Asian country once unknown to many Americans and now symbolises endless conflicts, foreign entanglements and an incubator of terrorist conspiracies. Eighteen months later, President Joe Biden is referring to the deal signed in Doha, Qatar, as he tries to deflect blame for the Taliban who invaded Afghanistan in a flash. He says it forced him to withdraw the United States. Troops preparing the ground for the chaos engulfing the country.
“The deal will mean nothing — and today`s good feelings won`t last — unless we take concrete action against the commitments made and the promises made,” Pompeo said. After more than a year of talks, the deal marks the beginning of the end of America`s longest war. But many obstacles remain. The agreement called for the U.S. to reduce its forces from 13,000 to 8,600 within three to four months, with the remaining U.S. forces withdrawing in 14 months or by May 1. Chris Miller, acting defense secretary in the final months of the Trump administration, angered the idea that Biden was handcuffed by the deal. These negotiations were supposed to begin within a month of signing the agreement, but were delayed due to disputes between the Taliban and the Afghan government over the release of prisoners. Amid the seizures and early stages, negotiations had yielded no results when Biden announced his decision to withdraw in April.
And they haven`t done it since. The Doha Agreement, also known as the Afghanistan Peacebuilding Agreement, is a peace agreement that was signed on 29 September. It was signed by the United States and the Taliban in February 2020 to end the war in Afghanistan. [1] The quadrilateral agreement was signed at the Sheraton Grand Doha in Doha, Qatar, and published on the U.S. State Department website. [2] [best source needed] It was negotiated by Zalmay Khalilzad. The agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, which follows more than a year of negotiations and ostensibly excluded the US-backed Afghan government, is not a final peace agreement, is full of ambiguities and could still be dissolved. But the deal leaves an unpleasant reality for the Trump administration: it signed an agreement with a movement in which an officially listed terrorist group, the Haqqani Network, known for its suicide bombing campaign, is an integral part of the leadership. The head of the network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the deputy head and military commander of the Taliban. General McKenzie told the committee that the Doha agreement has a strong psychological effect on the Afghan government because it sets a date for “when they can expect the end of any aid.” Under the agreement, the U.S. initially reduced its military presence from 12,000 to about 8,600 troops and closed several bases in June.
Any further military withdrawal should be conditional on the Taliban fulfilling their commitments. The Pentagon recently announced a further reduction to 2,500 troops before President-elect Biden took office. But it is seen as a step toward negotiating a broader deal that they hope could end the insurgency of the Taliban, the militant movement that once ruled Afghanistan under a strict Islamic code. U.S. officials made it clear at the time that the agreement was based on conditions and that the failure of intra-Afghan peace talks to reach a negotiated solution would have lifted the obligation to withdraw. On March 27, 2020, the Afghan government announced the formation of a 21-member negotiating team for the peace talks. There have also been discussions about their coming to the United States to meet with Trump. Lord.
Biden`s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the administration would review the withdrawal agreement. [53] On April 14, 2021, the Biden administration announced that the United States would withdraw the remaining troops not by May 1, but by September 11. [54] [55] On the 8th. In July, Biden gives a U.S. exit date of August 31. [56] Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin agreed, saying the deal helped the Taliban become “stronger.” “The signing of the Doha agreement had a really damaging effect on the Afghan government and its military – more than anything else psychologically, but we set a specific date when we would leave and when they could expect all the aid to end,” McKenzie said. .