US and Taleban set to sign withdrawal deal on February 29

Kabul said a week-long partial truce across Afghanistan would kick off this weekend.

The US and the Taleban are set to sign a historic agreement that would pave the way to ending America’s longest war, the bitter foes announced on Friday, hours after Kabul said a week-long partial truce across Afghanistan would kick off this weekend.

If that so-called “reduction in violence” holds, it would mark a major turning point in the gruelling conflict and set the conditions for a deal that could, ultimately, pull US troops out after more than 18 years and launch Afghanistan into an uncertain future.

Both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Taleban issued statements saying they had agreed to sign the accord on February 29 in Doha, following the one-week partial truce. “Upon a successful implementation of this understanding, signing of the US-Taleban agreement is expected to move forward,” Pompeo said, adding that negotiations between the Taleban and the Afghan government would “start soon thereafter”.

Afghanistan’s National Security Council spokesman Javed Faisal and Taleban sources earlier said the “reduction in violence” between US, Taleban and Afghan security forces would begin on Saturday. The US has been in talks with the Taleban for more than a year to secure a deal in which it would pull out thousands of troops in return for Taleban security guarantees.

Source ; News Agencies