U.S Taliban peace deal: A historic analysis

The long and hard war between the Afghan Taliban and the United States has come to an end. The US and the Taliban have signed a settlement for bringing peace to Afghanistan. The war between Afghanistan’s freedom fighters and the United States was long and crucial. It started weeks after Al-Qaeda (that is what the world was told) the attack in New York when Al-Qaeda high jacked to US planes and crashed them into the world trade center buildings. The attack was one of the biggest terrorist attacks in the history of the US. In return, the US invaded Afghanistan because Al-Qaeda was operating from Afghanistan at that time.

The war between the US and Al-Qaeda shifted to, the war between the Taliban and the US after the invasion. Taliban are really strong in their designated territories and gave a tough competition to the US armed forces.

After almost two decades of war US and Afghan Taliban have come to an agreement in which the US along with NATO allies will call back its armed forces from Afghanistan in one year. It is expected that in a year the US will return almost 8500 troops from Afghanistan. President Trump has announced in an interview that, It was time for the US soldiers to come back home. It has been so long and our troops have paid more than they had to. It is time for someone else to contribute now.

Creation of freedom fighters

The Afghan Taliban were founded in 1994 during the Afghan Civil War. It largely consisted of students, who had been taught in an Islamic institution. These were known as afghan freedom fighters. They emerged as a response to the Soviet-Afghan War and fought against Russia under the leadership of Muhammad Omer. From 1996 to 2001 Afghan Taliban held three-quarters of Afghanistan territory. They enforced their strict Sunni sharia in those years. The Afghan has been condemned by the whole world for enforcement of their extreme sharia laws.

 After soviet departure, these freedom fighters started enforcing Sunni Islamic sharia on the people in Afghanistan, which resulted in many crucial killings and retaliations by the people of Afghanistan. Afghan Taliban’s rules were very strict, especially regarding women. During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban committed many different massacres against civilians in Afghanistan and denied NATO supplies to thousands of people who were starving to death.

The long-lasting war between US and Taliba Ends

The war which started in 2001 lasted for two decades and was one of the crucial wars between the two countries. Afghan civilians had to sacrifice the most in this war. They had been starving for peace for almost twenty years now and nobody was there to help them.The US retaliated in response to Al-Qaeda attack in New York. At that time Al-Qaeda was operating from Afghanistan. After destroying AL-Qaeda the US didn’t return its troops. 

In the meantime,the Afghan Taliban also retaliated as a response to the US invasion in Afghanistan. Almost 2400 US troops had died in this war and more than 10000 freedom fighters were killed. The US was determined to remove every root of terrorism from Afghanistan, but the biggest hurdle for them was the Taliban. Not only in the US but the Taliban has been performing attacks in Pakistan as well as other countries of the world. Their position in Afghanistan has strengthened in Afghanistan that resulted in great difficulties for the US.

The US-Taliban Sign peace agreement

After President Trump came to power, he mainly focused on foreign affairs with a different approach. He tried to secure every opportunity that could be beneficial for the US in any sense. The 18 years long war did nothing but the harms to the US economy and military. President wanted to pull out of Afganistan in any case, not only for the personnel fighting and being killed in Afganistan but also for the expenses and loss of the war.

On February 29, 2020, Afganistan leadership and the US signed a peace treaty in Qatar. The credit for bringing both parties to table goes to Pakistan.

Main Conditions of the Peace deal between the US and Taliban

The process of the peace treaty between the US and the Taliban started in 2011 when Qatar has hosted peace talks between the Taliban and the US. A Taliban office was also opened in Qatar but it eventually closed. In 2018 the Taliban militants agreed to sit with the US to find a roadmap to peace. But the Islamic Leaders kept denying to hold an official talk with the Afghanistan government. They claimed that the Afghanistan government was a puppet to the United States.

After following 9 rounds of peace talks in Qatar, both agreed. US top negotiator announced that the US will withdraw almost 5400 troops from Afghanistan within 20 weeks. But later US President Donald Trump announced that the talk was “DEAD”

The Agreements of Peace

The following conditions have been discussed in the peace talk and both parties had agreed on it.

Within 20 weeks of the agreement, the US will reduce its forces to a minimum of 8600 in Afghanistan, and allies will also withdraw their forces as soon as possible.

This act will help President Donald Trump to campaign in the upcoming elections. The return of the troops will give a huge boost to his campaign

The deal also provides an exchange of prisoners. Almost 5000 afghan prisoners and 900 afghan security prisoners will be released by the 10th of March.

The US working Along with the UN will lift its sanctions against the Taliban.

Views of Civilians about the peace treaty

On one hand, where some people are saying that this peace treaty between the US and Afghanistan will be very progressive and beneficial for Afghanistan, Some people are also saying that this will bring catastrophe to Afghanistan. 

The Activists for women liberation in Afghanistan claims that US removal of armed forces will worsen the condition in Afghanistan. They say that the Taliban are extremely religious and they enforce their fatal beliefs on every civilian. The condition is worse for women because they are killed and forced by these Taliban. 

These activists claim that the removal of armed forces will give complete authority to the Taliban's over Afghanistan, which will make Afghanistan a living hell for women.

On the other hand, people who are optimistic about this treaty claim that this is the first step toward a nourishing future of Afghanistan. They say that the economy of Afghanistan will boost because bans will be lifted on Afghanistan and they will be able to trade with foreign countries. Hitherto Afghanistan will be acknowledged.

Way forward

Every person has different views about this peace treaty. Many say that is will not long last, Other say that it is a stunt by President Trump for his campaign. But everyone agrees on one thing that war is not best for the interest of any country. And it should not be imposed on people. Although big or small this treaty is a step towards peace and everyone should acknowledge it. Afghanistani civilians have suffered enough for almost two decades. They deserve peace and happiness in their lives, and this step is big progress for them. People were oppressed to sleep on lands. They didn’t have any homes, because their homes had been destroyed in the war. Many migrated to Pakistan and other countries for refuge.

This peace treaty is a big step for both Afganistan, America and the world because it will bring peace. let us hope it will continue and will not be disturbed by the forces who want it to fail.

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