2020年2月29日，美国阿富汗和解特别代表扎勒迈·哈利勒扎德和塔利班联合创始人毛拉·阿卜杜勒·加尼·毛拉·阿卜杜勒·加尼·巴拉达尔在卡塔尔首都多哈签署和平协议后握手。-美国与塔利班签署了一项里程碑式的协议，制定了一份在14个月内从阿富汗全部撤军的时间表，同时寻求从这场有史以来最长的战争中撤出。在华盛顿与阿富汗叛乱分子签署里程碑式的协议之际，庞贝呼吁塔利班履行其切断与圣战组织联系的承诺。
美国和塔利班代表签署了一项初步协议，就阿富汗和平的更广泛框架进行谈判，其中包括承诺在14个月内从阿富汗撤出美国军队。
美国目前大约有13，000名士兵驻扎在该国。
该协议于周六在卡塔尔多哈签署，标志着实现更持久和平进程的第一步。近20年来，随着美国持续时间最长的战争演变成外交政策的混乱，这一目标一直难以实现。
“当我竞选公职时，我向美国人民承诺，我将开始把我们的军队带回家，并寻求结束这场战争。我们正在这一承诺上取得实质性进展，”唐纳德·特朗普总统周五在一份声明中表示。“如果塔利班和阿富汗政府履行这些承诺，我们将有一条强有力的道路来结束阿富汗战争，并把我们的军队带回家。”
据报道，该协议包括承诺减少塔利班和阿富汗安全部队之间的暴力冲突，而这一条款的试运行已经使大规模袭击减少了80%纽约时报。此外，塔利班已同意脱离基地组织等外国恐怖组织，在策划9.11恐怖袭击期间，塔利班为基地组织提供了安全避难所。
这一缓解暴力的计划是在最近记忆中针对美国军队的一些最致命的袭击之后实施的。2019年，美军死亡人数达到五年来的最高水平。根据联合国的数据，2019年7月的平民死亡人数超过了至少十年来的任何一个月。
“我们已经进行了非常成功的谈判，我们认为他们最终会取得成功，”特朗普周六在计划中的美国冠状病毒传播的最新消息发布前表示。“对方厌倦了战争。每个人都厌倦了战争。这是一个特别漫长和可怕的过程。”
特朗普补充说，他计划在不远的将来与塔利班领导人进行个人会晤。
美国官员希望停火能被纳入任何永久协议中，该协议仍需谈判，在寻求和平的努力中仍是一张王牌。将阿富汗政府排除在导致周六协议的进程之外是另一个风险因素。然而，塔利班此前拒绝与美国支持的阿富汗政府进行直接对话。
特朗普政府对协议的追求从一开始就是一项棘手的努力。谈判持续了一年多，进展时断时续，突然取消打断了幕后的平静谈判。前国家安全顾问约翰波顿(John Bolton)在被特朗普政府赶下台之前，一直是一项预期交易的坚定反对者。他发布了一条推特来回应交易的消息，称这是“美国平民无法接受的风险”
然而，这一临时协议被国际社会誉为确保持久和平的第一个必要步骤。
北大西洋公约组织(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)在一份新闻稿中表示:“最近在和平方面取得的进展带来了暴力的减少，并为一个完全包容的阿富汗国家小组和塔利班之间的阿富汗内部谈判铺平了道路，以达成一项全面和平协议。”。"我们呼吁塔利班抓住这个和平的机会。"
这篇文章已经更新，包括唐纳德·特朗普总统周六下午在白宫发表的评论。
HISTORIC PEACE DEAL SIGNED BY U.S. AND TALIBAN IN EFFORT TO END AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR
(L to R) US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar shake hands after signing a peace agreement during a ceremony in the Qatari capital Doha on February 29, 2020. - The United States signed a landmark deal with the Taliban, laying out a timetable for a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months as it seeks an exit from its longest-ever war. Pompeo called on the Taliban to honor its commitments to sever ties with jihadist groups as Washington signed a landmark deal with the Afghan insurgents.
Representatives for the United States and the Taliban signed a preliminary agreement to negotiate a broader framework for peace in Afghanistan, which included a promise to withdraw American troops in the country over a 14-month period.
The U.S. currently has approximately 13,000 troops stationed in the country.
The agreement, signed in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, marks the first step in the process for achieving more durable peace, a goal that has remained elusive for nearly two decades as America's longest war became a foreign policy imbroglio.
"When I ran for office, I promised the American people I would begin to bring our troops home, and seek to end this war. We are making substantial progress on that promise," President Donald Trump said in a statement Friday. "If the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan live up to these commitments, we will have a powerful path forward to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our troops home."
The deal includes a commitment to a reduction in violence between Taliban and Afghan security forces, and a dry run of this provision has yielded an 80 percent decline in large attacks, according to The New York Times. Moreover, the Taliban has agreed to dissociate itself from foreign terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, for whom it provided safe haven during the planning of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The violence-mitigation plan follows some of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces in recent memory. In 2019, the number of U.S. troop fatalities reached its highest level in five years. More civilians were killed in July 2019 than in any month in at least a decade, according to the United Nations.
"We've had very successful negotiations, we think they'll be successful in the end," Trump said Saturday ahead of a planned update on the spread of coronavirus in the United States. "The other side's tired of war. Everybody's tired of war. It's been a particularly long and gruesome one."
Trump added that he plans on meeting personally with Taliban leaders in the not-too-distant future.
American officials hope that a cease-fire will be included in any permanent agreement, which still needs to be negotiated and remains a wild card in the peace-seeking efforts. The exclusion of the Afghan government from the process that led to Saturday's deal was another risk factor. The Taliban, however, has previously refused to engage in direct talks with Afghanistan's U.S.-backed administration.
The Trump administration's pursuit of a deal has been a thorny endeavor from the start. Talks stretched on for over a year and progress has been fitful, with abrupt cancelations punctuating quiet negotiations in the background. John Bolton, the former national security adviser, was a staunch opponent of a prospective deal until his ouster from the Trump administration. He issued a tweet in response to news of the deal, calling it an "unacceptable risk to America's civilian population."
Nevertheless, the tentative agreement is being hailed by the international community as the first, necessary step in securing lasting peace.
"Recent progress on peace has ushered in a reduction of violence and paved the way for intra-Afghan negotiations between a fully inclusive Afghan national team and the Taliban to reach a comprehensive peace agreement," the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which maintains an international coalition of troops in the country, said in a press release. "We call on the Taliban to embrace this opportunity for peace."
This article has been updated to include comments made by President Donald Trump Saturday afternoon from the White House.
