U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is aiming to secure a peace agreement in Afghanistan before the country’s presidential election this summer.
Despite the tight turnaround, Khalilzad is optimistic the parties can reach a deal — or at least make enough progress to set the stage for a credible election. “There is sufficient time, I believe, where we could reach an agreement,” Khalilzad said Friday in a talk at the United States Institute for Peace in Washington. “But at least if we have significant progress, that will have a good impact with regard to the future, including the elections.”
Elections were originally scheduled for April, but Afghan officials announced in December they would be pushed back to July. Khalilzad said peace talks wouldn’t delay them any further: “if there is a stalemate in the peace process, then you can’t hold back elections in Afghanistan.”
Late last month, Khalilzad held discussions with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, which he reported on Twitter were “more productive than they have been in the past.” Khalilzad confirmed Friday that, after 18 years of war, the U.S. and the Taliban agreed on a draft framework detailing a possible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The plan would also require the Taliban to bar al Qaeda and the Islamic State from entering Afghanistan and plotting terrorist attacks from the country.
“We will engage the Taliban further the flesh out these commitments they have made,” Khalilzad said Friday. “Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.”
But the Afghan government was not included in the talks, and Khalilzad stressed that inter-Afghan dialogue should start soon so Afghans can construct a plan for the future of the country. The Taliban has historically rejected any negotiations with the Afghan government, but Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said in an interview Tuesday that the government will be the final “decision-maker” on any peace deal.
Regarding a potential reduction in and eventual withdrawal of the approximately 14,000 U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, Khalilzad said that the U.S. is not pursuing permanent bases in Afghanistan, and any withdrawal must start with a reduction of troops.
“Our presence is condition-based, our withdrawal is condition-based, and our vision long-term is for an Afghanistan that’s entirely sovereign and independent,” Khalilzad said. “If they decide that don’t want to have foreign troops, we don’t want to stay where we are not wanted, provided that there is no threat to our national security from Afghanistan — there are no terrorist threats from Afghanistan to the United States, that is a red line, and I think that is the policy of the president as well.”
Despite the recent developments, Khalilzad said much more progress must be made to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.
“While we are hopeful that there may be a moment of opportunity and we will give it all that we can, we have a long way to go,” Khalilzad said. “What we have achieved so far is significant, but these are two or three small steps in a long journey.”
