Don’t Let the Taliban Dictate Terms

Now that U.S. negotiators have reached a draft agreement with the Taliban, there’s new hope of bringing America’s longest war to a close. The challenge will be to end it without betraying America’s Afghan allies and reversing the progress that the country has made in recent years.

The discussions between U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives are encouraging. Direct talks are the only way to end the fighting and, for the first time in 17 years, the U.S. is negotiating with one of the most powerful Taliban leaders. Under U.S. pressure, Pakistan, which has long enabled the Taliban insurgency, seems to be helping. And the core of the framework agreement — a phased withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for a pledge by the Taliban to cut ties to global terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda — addresses each side’s central demand. Khalilzad says the Taliban have agreed to a way to enforce that promise, the details of which will be crucial.