Trump’s Fake Peace Deal With the Taliban

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Donald Trump

Michael Hughes: The newly-inked U.S.-Taliban “peace” agreement – a pact that excludes the actual sitting internationally-recognized government of Afghanistan – will never bring peace to the war-torn country because it was never really designed to. The agreement and February 29 signing ceremony in Doha are all part of a publicity charade that will weaponize President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, allowing the dealmaker-in-chief to claim U.S. troops are coming home. Click here to read more.

Ghani wants Taliban to leave Pakistan

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Ghani

1TV: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday called on the Taliban to leave Pakistan and open office in Afghanistan. “If the Taliban talk prisoner release and have it as a condition, we also have conditions, they should tell me when will they leave Pakistan?,” Ghani asked during a visit to eastern Nangarhar province. The Taliban have increased their attacks on Afghan forces after a reduction for seven days that led to the signing of deal with US. “When you agree to make peace with foreigners, then what does Jihad mean? Killing Afghans is a crime,” Ghani said. Click here to read more (external link).

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Taliban raid Afghan army bases nationwide shortly after signing deal with US

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Taliban militants (file photo)

Press TV
March 3, 2020

The Taliban have carried out over a dozen attacks on Afghan military bases shortly after they signed a so-called peace deal with the United States.

An unnamed Afghan Defense Ministry official told AFP on Tuesday that the militants had conducted attacks on government forces in 13 of the country’s 34 provinces overnight.

A government statement said two soldiers were killed in one of the attacks, which happened in southern Kandahar Province.

A spokesman for the Logar Province governor, Didar Lawang, said an attack there killed five security forces.

A week-long truce between the Taliban, the United States, and Afghan forces preceded the Saturday signing of the deal between the militant group and Washington in Qatar.

The deal sets out a timetable for the foreign forces to quit Afghanistan within 14 months, subject to a pledge by the militants to hold talks with the Kabul government. The agreement calls for up to 5,000 jailed Taliban prisoners to be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10.

The administration of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has since rejected that demand. Ghani said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump had not asked for the release of the prisoners and that the issue had to be discussed as part of a comprehensive peace deal that includes the Kabul government.

Reacting to the development on Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the reduction in violence against Afghan security forces was “over.”

Since the deal signing, the Taliban have been publicly celebrating their “victory” over the United States. The militants have long demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops.

About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed in the war. Over 100,000 Afghans have also been killed or injured since 2009, when the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began documenting casualties.

The Taliban now control or hold influence over more Afghan territory than at any point since 2001.

Experts say, however, that it is the Afghan government and the Taliban, rather than the US and the militant group, who should address important questions on the future of Afghanistan.

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More than $2B Lost in Copper Mining Delays: Company

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Tolo News: An estimated $2 billion in government revenue has been lost due to inactivity from a copper mine–the country’s largest–in the last 10 years, TOLOnews findings reveal, based on projections of the mine’s worth since a deal was made between the Afghan government and a Chinese company in May 2008. Click here to read more (external link).

 

Ready for intra-Afghan talks, but waiting for release of our prisoners: Taliban

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Taliban fighters (file photo)

Press TV
March 2, 2020

Taliban will not take part in intra-Afghan talks unless about 5,000 of its prisoners are released, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says, against the backdrop of a recently signed tentative peace agreement between the United States and the militant group.

The Taliban spokesman said on Monday that the majority of the prisoners have been captured by US forces and are held in Afghan government’s prisons.

“We are fully ready for the intra-Afghan talks, but we are waiting for the release of our 5,000 prisoners,” the Taliban spokesman said, adding, “If our 5,000 prisoners – 100 or 200 more or less does not matter – do not get released, there will be no intra-Afghan talks.”

On Saturday, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement aimed at paving the way for a complete withdrawal of US forces, effectively ending what many have described as America’s “longest war” in history.

The Afghan government did not take part in the negotiations which led to the deal.

The agreement calls for up to 5,000 jailed Taliban prisoners to be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10.

The administration of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has since rejected that demand. Ghani said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump had not asked for the release of the prisoners and that the issue should be discussed as part of a comprehensive peace deal.

Washington says it hopes negotiations toward a permanent political settlement and ceasefire could start in the coming days. Some Western diplomats and analysts, however, see stark challenges ahead.

Taliban says will resume operations against Afghan forces

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Taliban spokesman said the seven-day period of reduction in violence, which led up to the Saturday pact in Doha had formally ended.

“As we are receiving reports that people are enjoying the reduction in violence, we don’t want to spoil their happiness, but it does not mean that we will not take our normal military activities back to the level that we were before,” he said, adding, “The reduction in violence… has ended now and our operations will continue as normal… It could be any time, it could be after an hour, tonight, tomorrow or the day after.”

He said the Taliban militants are not going to halt attacks targeting Afghan government forces but foreign soldiers will be spared.

Fawad Aman, deputy spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said the government was “checking to see if” the ceasefire had ended. “We have not had any reports of any big attacks in the country yet.”

The Saturday signing came after a week-long partial truce that had mostly held across Afghanistan. The Taliban had earlier ordered all its members to “refrain from attacks.”

Some believe it is the Afghan government and the Taliban, rather than the US and the militant group, who should ponder important questions on the future of Afghanistan in their negotiations.

President Donald Trump of the United States has long expressed eagerness to bring US soldiers back home and to end the war as he seeks re-election in 2020.

About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed in the war. Over 100,000 Afghans have also been killed or injured since 2009, when the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began documenting casualties.

The Taliban now control or hold influence over more Afghan territory than at any point since 2001.

The militants have long demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops, calling them an “occupation” force, and blaming them for the almost two decades of war.

Pakistan Shuts Afghan Border to Stop Spread of Coronavirus

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
March 2, 2020

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has temporarily closed a key southwestern crossing point with Afghanistan, saying the move is meant to prevent the spread of coronavirus on both sides of the border.

An official announcement Monday said the Chaman crossing in Baluchistan province was being shut for “an initial period of seven days… in the best interest of the people of brotherly countries.”

Meanwhile, authorities in the southern province of Sindh extended the closure of all educational institutions for two weeks following the confirmation of a second case of the virus in Karachi, the provincial capital and the country’s largest city. Schools in Sindh have been closed since Thursday.

Pakistan has confirmed a total of four cases, including two in the national capital, Islamabad. The ministry of public health in Afghanistan says one person has tested positive and that authorities are investigating 17 suspected cases. Those individuals are being kept in isolation wards.

Both countries have linked the confirmed and suspected cases of what is officially known as COVID-19 to an outbreak in neighboring Iran, where the virus has killed 66 people among more than 1,500 confirmed infections there.

Pakistani authorities suspended all flights to Iran and closed the land border last week. Pakistan has also halted air links and delayed opening of the only land crossing with China, the epicenter of the outbreak. In December, Chinese officials detected the disease, which has since killed more than 2,900 people. The number of infections in the country has surpassed 80,000.

The Afghan government has closed all schools and banned public gatherings until further notice in the western province of Herat, next to the Iranian border. The province is where the first suspected cases were detected late last month among Afghans who had recently returned from Iran.

Afghan authorities have tightened screenings at border entry points and limited land and air links with Iran.

Afghanistan’s health minister, Feruzuddin Feruz, urged Iranian authorities Monday to stop the “mass deportation” of Afghan immigrants, fearing it could lead to an increase in the number of infections in Afghanistan. He told reporters in Kabul that Tehran sends back up to 3,000 Afghans daily and that drug addicts are also among the fresh deportees.

The central Asian states of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have also closed their borders with Afghanistan.  Afghan officials told VOA the abrupt closure Sunday has stranded hundreds of truck convoys in the northern Hairatan border region.

Experts worry Iran’s percentage of deaths to infections, around 5.5%, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be much higher than current figures show.

Although the cases in Iran are “low and limited” compared to global statistics, Tehran is “rapidly and accurately” responding to the crisis stemming from the outbreak, said a statement issued by the Iranian embassy in Pakistan last week.

On Monday, an Iranian government spokesman, Ali Rabiei, addressing journalists by teleconference, acknowledged the challenges remaining for his country and said, “We will have two difficult weeks ahead.”

No Need for US to Solve Afghanistan-Pakistan Issues: Qureshi

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Shah Mahmood Qureshi

Tolo News: Any reservations Afghanistan has with Islamabad should be resolved bilaterally rather than involving the United States, Pakistan’s foreign minister said on Sunday, in reference to part of a joint US-Afghan declaration on peace efforts.“They should talk directly to Pakistan. The US is planning to withdraw and we will always remain neighbors,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Reuters in an interview, referring to Washington’s intent to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).

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Bomb Blast Near Afghan Soccer Ground Kills Three Civilians

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 2, 2020

A bombing at a soccer match has killed three civilians in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost Province, officials say, as the Taliban announced an end to a partial truce in the country.

The explosives were placed on a motorbike that had stopped near the football field in Nadir Shah Kot district, the provincial governor’s spokesman, Talib Khan Mangal, said on March 2.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, in which at least seven people were also wounded.

A weeklong cease-fire between the Taliban, U.S., and Afghan forces preceded the February 29 signing of a deal between the militant group and the United States in the Qatari capital, Doha, aimed at ending the 18-year war in Afghanistan.

But on March 2, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the reduction in violence against Afghan security forces was “over.”

The previous day, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani committed to continuing the partial truce at least until talks between his Western-backed government and the Taliban start, scheduled for March 10.

But Ghani also warned he was not committed to a key clause in the Doha deal involving the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

The agreement also lays out a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in return for various security commitments from the militants and a pledge to hold talks with the Afghan government — which it has so far has to do.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and TOLOnews

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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