Paving way for talks: Taliban members stand in front of a poster of President Ashraf Ghani after their release from prison in May 2020.
Jalil Rezayee/EPA
After months of delays, talks between the Taliban and Afghan governnment are due to start in Doha. Here’s what is on the table.
Afghan security personnel inspect the rubble of Afghanistan’s intelligence services building after a car bomb blast claimed by the Taliban killed at least 11 people, July 13, 2020.
AFP via Getty Images
In February, the US signed an historic accord with the Taliban to end the Afghanistan War. Now violence in the country is up and peace talks with the government are delayed yet again.
Members of an arm of Hezbollah spray disinfectant in a Beirut neighborhood to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
AP Photo/Bilal Hussein
Criminal gangs, insurgents and terrorist groups seek to protect the people in the areas they govern, when a central government’s power is weak or nonexistent.
New Afghan National Army recruits march during their February graduation ceremony.
AP Photo/Rahmat Gul
The US is taking an untraditional approach in its peace talks with the Taliban. The new deal does not contain many of the elements that are typically key to a successful peace negotiation.
Many Afghans fear the landmark US-Taliban deal will not lead to peace without firm commitments from the Taliban to protect human rights and sever ties with terrorist groups.
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar sign an agreement ending the US’s 18-year war in Afghanistan, Doha, Feb. 29, 2020.
GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images
A peace deal with the Taliban has been signed. But rebuilding Afghanistan after three decades of conflict will take much more than an accord, says a scholar of peacebuilding.
Counting underway in Herat, Afghanistan.
Jalil Rezayee/EPA
Trump recently warned Iran that the US could target its cultural sites. Many of Iran’s cultural sites carry deep religious meaning for a global Shii community and such a threat risks alienating them.
Anti-government protesters in Chile defend themselves against a police water cannon, Santiago, Nov. 15, 2019.
AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo
There’s much more going on in the world than the Trump impeachment and Brexit. Here are five momentous global stories to track in 2020.
A memorial procession for Sgt. James Johnston, who was killed in Afghanistan in June, passes through Trumansburg, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019.
AP/David Goldman
Gordon Adams, American University School of International Service
US officials have consistently lied over decades about progress in the Afghanistan war. The lies are no surprise, writes a foreign affairs scholar – but they have profound consequences.
A market in the Old City of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2019.
AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi
Building a lasting peace in Afghanistan will take much more than an accord with the Taliban. In post-conflict nations, economic development and job creation are critical to national security.
A supporter of Ashraf Ghani takes part in an election rally in Kabul last month.
Jawad Jalali/EPA
According to a recent survey, Afghans rate their lives worse than anyone else on the planet. The election is unlikely to be a game changer considering the magnitude of challenges facing the country.
Supporters of incumbent Ashraf Ghani at a rally in Kabul ahead of elections on September 28.
Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA
A ceasefire and peace agreement in Afghanistan may mean that the Taliban would have to lose their “terrorist” classification and turn from despised outlaws to legitimate powerbrokers.
When U.S. troops go home, ethnic militias will likely gain strength.
REUTERS/Parwiz
The US has been at war in Afghanistan since a few weeks after 9/11. Now we are negotiating a peace with the Taliban, the same insurgents who sheltered Osama bin Laden.
The aftermath of a 2018 attack by the Taliban in Ghazni city, Afghanistan. Will terrorist attacks like this one be as common in 2019?
Reuters/Mustafa Andaleb
The US is negotiating a peace agreement with the Taliban, so it can safely withdraw its troops. But how can peace last in Afghanistan if women aren’t at the negotiating table?
Members of the Taliban attend a separate round of peace talks in Moscow in November 2018.
Sergei Chirikov/EPA