US to resume negotiations with Taliban

Months after the signing of the historic agreement between the United States of America and the hardline Taliban movement; To bring peace to Afghanistan, the conflicting parties remain; Especially the Taliban, they are conducting hostile activities amid attempts to facilitate the realization of items on the ground.

Taliban from Doha

On June 7, 2020, the Taliban political bureau in the Qatari capital, Doha, announced that the head of the office, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had received the American peace envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and the commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, General Skat Miller, to discuss possible measures to achieve the peace process. And the holding of Afghan-Afghan talks is one of the most important files on which attendees are discussed, and the meetings were held with official representation from the Qatari government.

Parallel understandings and escalations

This meeting comes after two military strikes launched by the United States on June 6, 2020 against the movement’s sites; And that is for the first time since the announcement of the Eid al-Fitr truce, as it is one of the few times that Washington relied on targeting the movement after signing the peace agreement between them.

This demonstrates the continued eagerness of the United States to complete its agreement with the movement despite the latest targeting; Zalmay Khalilzad was quick to return to the movement’s political bureau to confirm Afghanistan’s commitment to the agreement, and the files they discussed are still the most controversial since the signing of the agreement on February 29, 2020, as the Afghan government and the movement toughen the release of prisoners as a necessary first step for internal negotiations to occur. As stipulated in the treaty signed with the American party.

This militancy shows the depth of political and economic interests of each party in the region. For its part, the Taliban want to unilaterally rule Afghanistan after the removal of the United States of America according to the agreement. As for Ashraf Ghanna’s government, previously backed by Washington, aims to win some gains after completely excluding them from the concluded treaty, and not to consider them. As an authentic political party to the equation, and accordingly, the prisoner exchange file remains the watershed on which the internal parties struggle for more political gains.

For its part, Washington wants to complete the terms of the agreement, and withdraw its forces from Afghanistan to reduce its military deployment globally to fulfill President Donald Trump’s electoral pledges before running for the new round of elections to assume a second presidential term.

Electoral press papers and desires

In this regard, Ali Bakr, a researcher specializing in terrorist movements affairs at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, says: “Military strikes between actors in Afghanistan are a pressure card that each of them wants to win, as it is a way to show the extent of power and control on the ground.” Pointing out that the agreement signed in February 2020 between the movement and Washington was continuing in light of strong strikes between the two parties, they were deluding the negotiating table.

The researcher asserted in a statement to the “reference” that the United States of America is actively seeking to get out of the country to implement Trump’s electoral promises to prepare for the new round, which qualifies the country for a political vacuum that the Taliban seeks with all its strength to export at the expense of the Afghan government that is trying to reach any acquired that enables it to survive, But the movement is well aware of what the future repercussions will be for Trump’s decision and is seeking to exploit it with full force.