US State Department spokesperson Ned Price has stated that the Doha Agreement had empowered the Taliban and weakened their partners in the former Afghan government. He added that the Taliban have not fulfilled their own commitments made in the Doha Agreement.
The unfulfilled promises include unsatisfactory steps regarding terrorist groups in Afghanistan as Taliban sheltered then-al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri; Taliban have also not engaged in political dialogue leading to a negotiated settlement and that the Doha Agreement envisioned a peaceful settlement, not a takeover on the part of the Taliban.
The Doha Agreement had been signed on February 29, 2020, between Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US representative for Afghanistan peace affairs, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the current Deputy Prime Minister of the Taliban, in Qatar.
Price added that despite no clear plan for the withdrawal they were committed to it because of an imposing deadline.
He went on to call on the Taliban to fulfil the commitments that they made to not only the United States in the context of this document but, to their own people.
He also said that the US and the world are hoping for the Taliban to revise their decision regarding girls’ education. “We expect Afghanistan’s schools to reopen. We stand with the Afghan people in calling on the Taliban to allow women and girls to have access to education and to participate fully in society. The Taliban’s decision to close secondary schools to girls last March violated again the very promises the Taliban made to their own people. It’s had a significant impact in turn on our engagement with Taliban representatives,” he added.
Price emphasised that education is an internationally recognised human right and is essential to Afghanistan’s growth, to its economic stability, to its potential for prosperity as well.
He said that the US is focused on channelling the humanitarian support, channelling the macroeconomic stability and macroeconomic support that they can provide to Afghanistan in ways that in essence bypass the Taliban.
