US, Taliban close to violence reduction pact; troop withdrawal not imminent

Current Affairs
President Donald Trump's national security counselor said Tuesday he is circumspectly idealistic that there could be a US concurrence with the Taliban throughout the following days or weeks, however a withdrawal of American powers isn't impending.
Robert O'Brien was asked whether Trump would approve an understanding where both the Taliban and US powers would vow to cling to a decrease in viciousness" a move that could prompt every single Afghan exchange to end the decades-long clash and blueprint a political future for the nation.
The understanding would require the Taliban and US powers to cease from directing assaults or battle activities for seven days, as per an individual acquainted with the progressing conversations who was not approved to talk about the proposed understanding and talked uniquely on state of obscurity.
I believe that we're gaining huge ground, O'Brien said at an occasion facilitated by the Atlantic Council in Washington.
"It's something we're keeping the president assessed of all the time. You prefer not to make expectations with regards to Afghanistan ... in any case, I'll state that we're carefully hopeful that some uplifting news could be prospective on that front.
On the off chance that a decrease in brutality holds, the US and Taliban would be required to consent to an arrangement to start talks inside 10 days including the Taliban and Afghans from the country over, including some who hold government positions however don't speak to the administration, the individual acquainted with the dealings said.

The president had made it extremely certain that there should be a decrease in brutality and there should be significant intra-Afghan talks for things to push ahead, O'Brien said...READ MORE

Afghan peace deal; Taliban agreement dead and talks over, says Donald Trump

International News

President Donald Trump on Monday said that US peace talks with the Taliban are over and announced that the US military has dramatically scaled up attacks on the insurgents in Afghanistan.
"They are dead. As far as I am concerned, they are dead," Trump said at the White House about the long-running attempt to reach an agreement with the Taliban and extricate US troops from the country after 18 years of war. The announcement followed Trump's dramatic cancelation of a secret plan to fly Taliban leaders in for direct talks at the Camp David presidential retreat over the weekend.
Driving another nail into the coffin of what had appeared to be nearly completed negotiations, Trump said that a US military onslaught on the guerrillas was now at its fiercest in a decade."Over the last four days, we have been hitting our Enemy harder than at any time in the last ten years!" he said in a tweet.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that "we've killed over a thousand Taliban in just the last 10 days." Trump angrily denied that the whiplash effect of his sudden shifts on Afghanistan was causing turmoil. Until this weekend, there had been steadily mounting expectations of a deal that would see the United States draw down troop levels in Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban would offer security guarantees to keep extremist groups out.
But then on Saturday, Trump revealed that he had canceled an unprecedented meeting between the Taliban and himself at storied Camp David, near Washington.He said this was in retaliation for the killing of a US soldier by the Taliban last week.

 The cancelation -- announced on Twitter -- was the first time most...Read more

US, Taliban keep open door to talks after Donald Trump scraps summit

International News

The United States and Afghanistan's Taliban on Sunday both left the door open to fresh talks after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a secret summit, but the insurgents threatened to inflict greater costs.
Washington also said it would not relent in fighting the militants after Trump blamed the scuttling of the unprecedented meeting on a Taliban attack that killed a US soldier.
Trump said he had invited Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for talks Sunday at the Camp David presidential retreat on a draft deal that would see the United States withdraw thousands of troops and wind down its longest-ever war.
In a series of television interviews, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not rule out a return to talks but said the United States needed a "significant commitment" from the Taliban.
"I'm not pessimistic," Pompeo told NBC. "I've watched the Taliban do things and say things they've not been permitted to do before." "I hope it's the case the Taliban will change their behaviour, will recommit to the things that we've been talking to them about for months," he said on ABC.
"In the end, this will be resolved through a series of conversations," he added, urging the Taliban to drop their long-running refusal to negotiate with Ghani's internationally recognized government.

 He said that Trump had not decided whether to go ahead with a withdrawal, which under the draft deal would pull 5,000 of the roughly 13,000 US troops from Afghanistan next year.But Pompeo warned that the United States was "not going to reduce the pressure" on the Taliban, saying US forces had killed more than 1,000 insurgents in the past 10 days alone...Read More

Why many children in Afghanistan can no longer afford to attend school

International News

Every day before dawn, 10-year-old Kamran goes to work with his father and other relatives at a brick factory on the outskirts of Kabul.
Like many children in Afghanistan, school is a luxury his family can no longer afford.His father, Atiqullah, supports his family of eight as well as several siblings, nieces and nephews. One of Kamran's uncles is ill and another has passed away, leaving their families in his father's care.
"My children wake up early in the morning and right after prayers they come here for work, so they don't have time for school," said Atiqullah, who like many Afghans has only one name. "These days if you don't work, you cannot survive."The U.S. and its allies have sunk billions of dollars of aid into Afghanistan since the invasion to oust the Taliban 18 years ago, but the country remains mired in poverty.
Signs of hardship are everywhere, from children begging in the streets to entire families including children as young as five or six working at brick kilns in the sweltering heat.
Atiqullah's family comes from the eastern Nangarhar province, a stronghold for both the Taliban and an Islamic State affiliate that has seen heavy fighting in recent years.
Brick factory owners travel to the villages and offer loans to cover basic necessities, forcing families to work them off during the summer months in a form of indentured servitude.

Workers say a family of 10 can bring in an average of $12-18 a day, depending on their productivity.Shubham Chaudhuri, who recently completed a three-year stint as the World Bank country director for Afghanistan, said more than half of Afghans live on less than a dollar a day, the amount considered necessary to meet basic needs...Read More

'Sandwiched' Pak, two-front dilemma & Afghan-India ties: Imran's worry list

International News

Cautioning the United States about any misadventure against Iran, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said any action on the lines of Iraq could be much worse and people would forget al-Qaeda.
"My worry about Iran is.... I am not sure whether all the countries realise the gravity of the situation if there is a conflict with Iran," Khan said in response to a question during his appearance at the US Institute of Peace, a think-tank funded by the US Congress.
"You know, this is not going to be the same as (the 2003 US invasion of) Iraq. This could be much, much, much worse.... It could unleash terrorism, which -- people would forget al-Qaeda.... You know, the battle might be quite short if it goes ahead, bombing airfields and so on," he said.
"But the consequences after that, my worry is that not many people fully understand it. And I would strongly urge that there should not be...another military situation," Khan said amidst an escalation of tension between Iran and the US.
"We would do anything, I mean, if (there is) any role Pakistan can play in this. We have already suggested this to Iran," he said.
"Until recently, Iran was willing but then, somehow I felt Iran is getting very desperate. And I do not think they should be pushed into a situation where this leads to a conflict," Khan added.

 Responding to another question on Afghanistan, he said his government had decided to put an end to the decades-old policy of interfering in Afghan politics to avert the danger that Pakistan might someday confront an Afghan-Indian alliance."The fear amongst the Pakistani military establishment was always that there would be a two-front situation...you know, the eastern front, which is India...Read More