WASHINGTON - After nearly 19 years of fighting, representatives of the United States and Afghan Taliban are expected to sign a peace deal Saturday in Doha, Qatar.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be among those witnessing the signing of the agreement, which is intended to lead to talks between the Taliban and Afghan government officials on ending their conflict, and at drawing down the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 from 13,000.
U.S. President Donald Trump called on the Taliban and the Afghan government to “seize this opportunity for peace,” and said if they live up to the commitments, “we will have a powerful path forward to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our troops home.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper will also issue a joint declaration with the government of Afghanistan, according to Trump’s Friday statement.
A reduction of violence agreement between the U.S. and Taliban went into effect seven days ago, and its success paved the way for Saturday’s signing.
FILE - Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during an interview in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 24, 2019.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai told VOA’s Afghan service “We are very happy to see the signing taking place on Saturday. It’s a welcomed thing. And from that point on, we hope that the intra-Afghan dialogue will start as soon as possible so Afghans can sit together and bringing lasting peace to our beloved country.”
The talks between the Taliban and Afghan officials are supposed to begin with in 10 days.
The head of strategic relations at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Peace Affairs, Najiyah Anwari, said, “The delegation of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan government will be inclusive ... in a way that it is able to represent Afghanistan well and to keep the achievements of Afghan people and their demands in past two decades and fight for it.”
Former Taliban attorney general and deputy minister of justice Mawlavi Jalaluddin Shinwari told VOA that for their part, “The Taliban in the intra-Afghan talks want the participation of influential individuals in other words, the anti-Taliban leaders who have fought against the Taliban before.”
Under the agreement, Afghanistan is to release 5,000 Taliban from government jails, while the Taliban agree to not allow extremists use Afghanistan to plot attacks against the United States or its allies.
The U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, which started nearly 19 years ago, after the September 11, 2001, attacks, has cost Washington almost $1 trillion and the lives of about 2,400 military personnel.
VOA's Eunjung Cho and Bezhan Hamdard contributed to this report.