by Leigh Jones
Post Date:
March 2, 2020

U.S.-Taliban peace deal hits snag

Name: WORLD
Price range: $

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks at a news conference at the presidential palace in Kabul on Sunday. Associated Press/Photo by Rahmat Gul

Celebrations over the peace deal the United States and the Taliban signed on Saturday did not last long. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday he would not free 5,000 Taliban prisoners, a key component of the agreement, before power-sharing talks between the rival factions begin on March 10.

How will this affect the United States? Despite the apparent roadblock, U.S. officials said they will move ahead with plans to withdraw all 13,000 troops from the country over the next 14 months. But President Donald Trump said the Taliban should not see that as a license for terror attacks: “If bad things happen, we’ll go back. … We’ll go back with a force like nobody’s ever seen.” The president also said he plans to meet with Taliban leaders soon. U.S. involvement in Afghanistan has lasted for 18 years, making it the longest conflict in U.S. history.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Mindy Belz’s “Answering jihad,” written just before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.

Leigh Jones

Leigh is features editor for WORLD. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate who spent six years as a newspaper reporter in Texas before joining WORLD News Group. Leigh also co-wrote Infinite Monster: Courage, Hope, and Resurrection in the Face of One of America's Largest Hurricanes. She resides with her husband and daughter in Houston, Texas.