American Efforts to bring the long-drawn conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan to an end may be derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. Fighting has tended to escalate in the Spring season, but peace efforts are under threat if prisoners die in custody before they can be exchange.
Renewed fighting could make it harder to limit the spread of the respiratory disease around the country.
The fact that this issue is creating concern in Washington is confirmed by the fact that most US ambassadors and envoys have returned back home, Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad last week visited Doha and Islamabad, while Mike Pence, the Secretary of State, late in March visited Kabul, the country’s capital. It is understood that intra-Afghan negotiations will become much more difficult if a good number of prisoners on either side contract the disease or die in prison, the BBC reports.
On the last day of February this year, the US and the Talibans agreed for an American withdrawal after more than 18 years. The agreement includes an exchange of 1,000 pro-Government detainees with 5,000 Taliban prisoners by 10th March, when talks to resolve the conflict should then ensue.
The Taliban, however, appeared to renege on this agreement a few weeks later, with a demand to President Ashraf Ghani – who was not a party to the original deal – to release all 5,000 prisoners before negotiations could start. A number of attacks on Afghan security forces were also carried out. Ghani, backed by the US, refused to comply, but accepted a phased release of 1,500 prisoners. The Talibans have from released 40 detainees.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has continued to spread, as the country has already confirmed almost 1,000 cases, including 20 members of staff currently stationed at the Afghan Presidential Palace.
Khalilzad is reported to have said that he was “incredibly worried” about a derailment of the process.
