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1 1 (September 16, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdbwq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Conqrcissioa flasearch Service Intra-Afghan Talks Commence in Doha, Qatar September 16, 2020 On September 12, 2020, Afghan government and Taliban representatives officially met to begin inaugural direct peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar, a significant moment with potentially dramatic implications for the course of the Afghan conflict. The United States, whose military involvement in Afghanistan is approaching its twentieth year, helped facilitate the talks while withdrawing U.S. military forces from the country. As negotiators begin their work, U.S. officials, including Members of Congress, are expected to closely follow the negotiations, given the impact that a settlement could have on U. S. interests such as human rights and counterterrorism. Background After eighteen months of negotiations, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement on February 29. 2020, laying out a timeline for the withdrawal of U. S. and international troops in return for counterterrorism assurances by the Taliban. The pact also outlined plans for talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government (which was not a party to the agreement) by March 2020. Intra-Afghan talks remained unscheduled for months amid complications that included gridlock in Kabul due to the disputed September 2019 presidential election, delays to a prisoner exchange between Taliban and theAfghan government, and ongoing violence. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani' s electoral opponent and former partner in a unity government, agreed in May 2020 to end the impasse and appoint Abdullah as chairman of the newly created High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) to oversee talks with the Taliban. The prisoner exchange was completed in early September 2020. Participants TheAfghan government's 21 -memnber negotiating team, led by formerAfghan intelligence agency head and Ghani ally Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, includes four women and represents Afghanistan's major ethnic groups. TheAbdullah-chaired HCNR is to oversee the team's work, though the full membership of that body is unclear in light ofAbdullah's rejection of Ghani's August 2020 appointment of HCNR members. The Taliban negotiating team also comprises 21 members (all men), though the Taliban have not made the list public. On September 5, the Taliban announced as lead negotiator MawlawiAbdul Hakim Haqqani, a senior hard--line cleric who is head of the Taliban's judiciary body and reportedly close to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. Some analysts have speculated that the move represents an attempt by Taliban Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov INi 1502 ORS MN GHT PrepareJ .r Men:bersand C o ma n m : i rtuE * oclCo r n ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------