February 29. 2020 was a historic day, and indeed a rarer occasion than a leap year as it saw the eventual signing of the US-Taliban agreement.
For the US and the allied forces, the feeling would be like getting to bed after a long day of hard work, for the Taliban a worth-boasting victory over a superpower. But for the critics, it was not more than a written assurance from the world’s most powerful country that it had too exhausted to stay any further in Afghanistan.
The four major points of the agreement include the timeline of 14 months for the withdrawal for the US and the allied forces. Of the 14000 US troops, only 8600 will remain in Afghanistan in the weeks to come. There are another 17000 NATO and allied troops that will also witness a phased withdrawal under the agreement.
The second major point is the assurance from the Taliban that Afghanistan will no longer be used as a launching pad for hostile activities against the US.
Another point is the initiation of the intra-Afghan negotiations by March 10, in which the Taliban will be holding a discussion with the Afghan government, which they had been denouncing as a “puppet regime” until now.
The fourth significant point of the agreement is that there would be a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.
How we reached here!
Apart from the technicalities, the spectacle that was globally covered, it depicted a superpower being reduced to a laughing stock.
Admittedly, It is the fate of all the wars that they culminate into peace agreements, and the US-Taliban agreement was no exception.
Mostly, the wars conclude with peace agreements, yet there is always a winner and a loser or at least a side in a position to extract favorable terms.
In 2001, the US toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks in the hunt of Osama, who they found ten years later in Pakistan.
Whatever happened between that decade and after the killing of Osama until yesterday was far from a success story for the US.
After spending around 1 trillion dollars and the deaths of its 2500 soldiers, in addition to 1600 allied troops, the US realized the war should be called off.
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Despite realizing the futility of the war, it took years to effect the US-Taliban agreement. But it is the irony of both the wars and the superpowers that they are doomed to suffer and end at a particular time.
About this peace process, the talks had been underway for months before President Trump abruptly called it off in September last year. His decision came after the killing of the US soldier in Kabul.
Following Trump’s cancelation of the talks, the Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told media that Washington would regret turning its back on the talks.
If Washington did not regret it, it seems a pure coincidence that the US and Taliban were in Doha to sign the historic agreement.
Why It is Taliban’s Victory!
First, they never gave up, and it was the US that invaded, suffered, trapped, before leaving after two decades. As they are leaving, what do they have except for a piece of paper in their hands that does not even qualify to be called as the “peace agreement”.
Since face-saving was not enough, the US sought the written assurances from the Taliban to cover their backs while they would be returning home.
The agreement comes amid times when the Taliban had control over more Afghan territory than at any time since 2001. Until a few days ago, there had been almost daily attacks against the military outposts throughout Afghanistan.
In the end, the most simple and straightforward answer to this is that the Taliban won because they had nothing to lose.
