After 17 years, the war in Afghanistan could be coming to an end.
The Taliban and the United States have agreed on a framework deal that ensures the Taliban would not allow any Afghan territory to be used for terrorist activity, chief United States negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad told The New York Times in an article published Monday. This agreement, combined with a cease-fire, could lead to the pull out of all foreign troops from the region.
Talks of a deal will come as a relief to the Afghan government and military, as the Taliban has been attacking Afghan forces nearly every day for weeks, according to Al Jazeera.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in a televised appearance Monday emphasized his desire to have all foreign forces withdraw from the country, an idealistic notion that could become a reality with the help of this deal.
“The current presence of foreign forces is based on need, and this need has always been contemplated and will be contemplated ... And according to an exact and arranged plan, we are trying to bring down that number to zero," Ghani said.
Charles Sennott, executive director of The GroundTruth Project, called the negotiations “good news” on Boston Public Radio Monday and said that he believes the agreement has real potential.
“It is time to talk about, how do you begin a drawdown in Afghanistan in which the Taliban are finally allowed in the political process with a guarantee that they will not allow a terrorist organization to take root in there, like Al-Qaeda was able to. We just have to find a way to do that,” said Sennott.
In addition to the baseline request of not harboring terrorist organizations, Sennott said that any agreement with the Taliban should include protections for the progress women have made in the country.
“We would be crazy and we would have failed if we don’t ensure that as something that has to happen,” said Sennott
