WASHINGTON: Washington and allies were hoping peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Kabul government would also yield an agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan that neither side’s territory would be used to attack the other, the Special Representative for Afghanistan said on Tuesday, as the insurgents and Kabul remained divided on even basic issues 10 days into talks meant to end two decades of war.
Afghanistan has for years accused Pakistan of supporting Taliban militants. Pakistan denies doing so and in turn accuses Afghanistan of supporting militants fighting Islamabad, which Kabul denies.
“We’re hoping that by the time that these other negotiations are over, we could also achieve success in that regard,” special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told a House of Representatives hearing, referring to a deal between Kabul and Islamabad.
The level of violence in Afghanistan is unacceptably high and the United States expects further setbacks during talks, Khalilzad said: “By any measure, current levels of violence are too high … We know that reductions are possible.”
Despite difficulties, the talks are the best hope for peace in years and come as a result of a February pact between the Taliban and United States, allowing US forces to withdraw in exchange for Taliban promises on terrorism.
But the militant group has refused to agree to a cease-fire and the war grinds on.
In recent months, the Taliban has pledged to respect women’s rights under sharia but many educated women who have come of age since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 for harboring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin laden have doubts.
During the hearing, Democrats asked Khalilzad about the possibility that after 20 years of war, billions of dollars and thousands of deaths, the withdrawal of US forces could end education for Afghan girls.
“I want to assure the Afghan women that we will be with them,” Khalilzad said.
Since the spotlight faded from the lavish September 12 opening ceremony for the talks in Qatar, the two sides have only confirmed that they are diametrically opposed on virtually every issue.
“While we have reasons to be hopeful, we are under no illusions about the challenges ahead. ... We expect that there will be setbacks and obstacles,” Khalilzad said.
The United States is expected to reduce troop levels to 4,000 to 5,000 in the coming months and will look at further reductions based on conditions.
David Helvey, who is performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told the subcommittee hearing the Pentagon was carrying out “prudent planning” to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by May 2021 if conditions were met.
He added that for now Defense Secretary Mark Esper had not issued any orders to go below 4,000 troops.
Hopeful Afghan peace talks will yield Islamabad-Kabul agreement against violence — Khalilzad
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Hopeful Afghan peace talks will yield Islamabad-Kabul agreement against violence — Khalilzad
- US special representative on Afghan peace says Washington looking forward to Pak-Afghan agreement that neither side’s territory would be used to attack the other
- Afghan government and Taliban remain divided on even basic issues 10 days into peace talks meant to end two decades of war
Return of millions of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran pushes Afghanistan to the brink, UN warns
- Afghan authorities provide care packages for those returning that include food aid, cash, a telephone SIM card and transportation
- But the returns have strained resources in a country struggling with a weak economy, severe drought and two devastating earthquakes
GENEVA: The return of millions of Afghans from neighboring Pakistan and Iran is pushing Afghanistan to the brink, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday, describing an unprecedented scale of returns.
A total of 5.4 million people have returned to Afghanistan since October 2023, mostly from the two neighboring countries, UNHCR’s Afghanistan representative Arafat Jamal said, speaking to a U.N. briefing in Geneva via video link from Kabul, the Afghan capital.
“This is massive, and the speed and scale of these returns has pushed Afghanistan nearly to the brink,” Jamal said.
Pakistan launched a sweeping crackdown in Oct. 2023 to expel migrants without documents, urging those in the country to leave of their own accord to avoid arrest and forcible deportation and forcibly expelling others. Iran also began a crackdown on migrants at around the same time.
Since then, millions have streamed across the border into Afghanistan, including people who were born in Pakistan decades ago and had built lives and created businesses there.
Last year alone, 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan, Jamal said, noting it was “the largest number of returns that we have witnessed to any single country.”
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have criticized the mass expulsions.
Afghanistan was already struggling with a dire humanitarian situation and a poor human rights record, particularly relating to women and girls, and the massive influx of people amounting to 12% of the population has put the country under severe strain, Jamal said.
Already in just the month and a half since the start of this year, about 150,000 people had returned to Afghanistan, he added.
Afghan authorities provide care packages for those returning that include some food aid, cash, a telephone SIM card and transportation to parts of the country where they might have family. But the returns have strained resources in a country that was already struggling to cope with a weak economy and the effects of a severe drought and two devastating earthquakes.
In November, the U.N. development program said nine out of 10 families in areas of Afghanistan with high rates of return were resorting to what are known as negative coping mechanisms — either skipping meals, falling into debt or selling their belongings to survive.
“We are deeply concerned about the sustainability of these returns,” Jamal said, noting that while 5% of those who return say they will leave Afghanistan again, more than 10% say they know of someone who has already left.
“These decisions, I would underscore, to undertake dangerous journeys, are not driven by a lack of a desire to remain in the country, on the contrary, but the reality that many are unable to rebuild their viable and dignified lives,” he said.
