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** Biden Cannot Allow the Taliban to Destroy Trump's Peace Legacy ([link removed])
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by Con Coughlin • February 20, 2021 at 5:00 am
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* Under the terms of that agreement with the US, the Taliban agreed to negotiate a peaceful resolution of this benighted country's long-running civil war in return for Washington agreeing to withdraw all its remaining forces. In addition, they agreed to cut their ties with Islamist terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda.
* While Mr Trump kept his side of the bargain, reducing US forces from around 13,000 at the time the deal was signed last February to just 2,500 when he left office, there has been little evidence of the Taliban fulfilling their commitments under the terms of the agreement.
* Consequently, Afghanistan finds itself in the midst of a major security crisis, with militants concentrating their attacks on a broad cross-section of Afghan society, with judges, activists, journalists, moderate clerics, students and other professionals all being targeted.
* Afghan officials believe the Taliban never had any intention of fulfilling their side of the deal, and just drew out the negotiations with the Trump administration so that they could secure the release of the estimated 5,000 militants being held by Afghan security forces, who were eventually released by the Afghan authorities last autumn.
* "The only thing the Taliban have taken out of this agreement is to get their prisoners, then launch an offensive against the Afghan forces and government. That was, it seems, their plan from the beginning." — Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan's National Security Advisor, The Times, February 17, 2021.
* Of major concern is the prospect that, if the Taliban are allowed to seize control of the country they governed prior to the September 11 attacks, they will once again allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, which will then use the country as a base to launch devastating attacks against the West.
* Thus, in making his decision about the future of American forces in Afghanistan, Mr Biden needs to take care that he is not responsible for causing a new wave of terror attacks against the US and its allies.

In Afghanistan, there has been a marked upsurge in violence since the start of the year. The Taliban have been accused of intensifying their terrorist campaign in their bid to retake control of the country. Pictured: Afghan soldiers fire on Taliban positions in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan on February 9, 2021. (Photo by Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images)

With former US President Donald J. Trump no longer able to dictate US policy on Afghanistan, the Taliban are exploiting the opportunity to increase their efforts to seize control of the country in spite of the peace accord they signed with the Trump administration last year.

Under the terms of that agreement with the US, the Taliban agreed to negotiate a peaceful resolution of this benighted country's long-running civil war in return for Washington agreeing to withdraw all its remaining forces. In addition, they agreed to cut their ties with Islamist terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda.

Yet, to judge by recent events in Afghanistan, the Taliban are showing little inclination to abide by the terms of the deal.

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